I Know How He Feels
by And The Moment's Gone
Summary: I know how he feels, how strong his touch can be, when he believes it's real. I've been there. And I know how he feels.
1. Mountains of History

Title: I Know How He Feels  
Category: TV Shows » Days Of Our Lives  
Author: And The Moment's Gone  
Language: English, Rating: Rated: T  
Chapters: 1, Words: 8,411

Warnings/Spoilers: AU after Chloe's return to Salem after faking her death.

Summary: I know how he feels, how strong his touch can be, when he believes it's real. I've been there. And I know how he feels

_Official Disclaimer_: All Days of Our Lives characters and plots belong to Corday and the NBC. I do not hold stock either the man or the company. Chloe Lane, Brady Black, and any other character featured are NOT mine. The title, summary, and lyrics come from the Reba McEntire song _I Know How He Feels _and I don't own that either.

* * *

She snuck in through the garage door, resetting the alarm the second she was in the house and dropping her two carry-on bags right there in the hallway beside the dryer and at least having the sense to lay her laptop and briefcase on top of the washer. Two more steps down the hall, and she pushed open the bedroom door slowly. It didn't creak as she was expecting, although somehow she knew that the second she stepped into the room, she would undoubtedly wake someone up.

Instead Chloe grabbed the bags off of the washer and headed across the living room into the kitchen, mindful to set the timer on the coffee maker before replacing the filter and checking the water level. She knew if she left it to the person lying in her bed, there would be no caffeine to say 'good morning' to.

For a split second she thought of going upstairs. But the more she thought about it, the more she realized that if she woke the sleeping child there, she was never getting to bed. Slowly, that seemed to be her only speed that night, Chloe shut off the kitchen light and padded across the great room again, to slip into the door she had left open.

"Are you home?"

The voice from the bed was gruff and lazy from hours of sleep. And when the man sat up, Chloe couldn't help but to watch the smooth plane of his stomach and the way his hair fell over his face. "Go back to sleep Shawn." She whispered as she abandoned her pinstripe suit pants on the floor in favor of valor Capri's and her short-sleeved lace top for a pink silk camisole.

But Shawn just shifted to the left and drew back the covers as if to offer her a spot. "How was your trip?" When Chloe sighed and joined him, he offered her a second feather pillow and when she declined he pulled it back underneath his head.

"It's four AM on a Saturday." Chloe whined, pulling the covers over her shoulders and settling into the bed as if she hadn't seen it in months. She had to admit that that was the worst part of being president of a company, spending weeks at a time in hotels and inns. "We'll talk about this after we've had coffee."

It was almost like that was the end of it. Shawn faced the grand windows and Chloe blinked a few times, looking at the bathroom door. He snorted a bit, keeping them both awake before he seemed to nod. "Okay."

* * *

The alarm didn't wake her. In fact it didn't even go off. When Chloe pulled herself from bed shortly after eight she realized that Shawn must have forgotten that she had asked him to set it before he went to bed. She didn't feel like showering, she had jumped in and out of one before she had left the hotel the night before, and although she was fairly certain she was dirty after the plane ride with Nicole, she didn't quite have the energy to start the water and wait under the warm spray.

Instead she decided that she should wake up. Coffee had always been her salvation from nights that were too long and sleep that short. The flavor of the week was hazelnut, and as she slipped from the bed to throw on her bathrobe, she remembered that she would have to get some more soon. Her bedroom door opened without its usual creak, and she flipped on the television and played with the channels for a moment before settling onto CNN while she wandered into the kitchen and poured herself a steaming mug of liquid energy.

She stood in the breakfast nook for fifteen minutes, staring at the television when Shawn finally emerged from the bedroom, his wet hair standing on end as he ran a towel over it and pulled at the hooded sweatshirt he had grabbed from her closet. Chloe beat him to the kitchen and handed him the glass of his morning dose of orange juice.

"Good morning sunshine." He couldn't help but smile as Chloe groaned. She wasn't a morning person, yes she could pretend, but Shawn just found it funny the way that Chloe ran a hand through her hair and shook her head at the sound of his voice.

"Why is it you're super sunny at eight AM and I'm dragging?" She asked as she helped herself to a second mug.

Shrugging, he offered nowhere near helpful, "jet lag?"

Chloe lowered the mug and turned to face him. "Bite me."

"Shut up and drink your coffee." He warned her, the smile never leaving his face. Not many people were able to see this side to Chloe since the time she dubbed 'the incident,' and Shawn suspected that it was only during unguarded moments at home that she allowed herself to not feel sorry for the fact that she had made it on her own.

"What time did Joy get to sleep last night?" The question broke the silence, and once again, Shawn was amazed at how Chloe had taken charge of her life, her own personal idiosyncrasies be damned.

"Well **Mom**," He started out, watching her raise an eyebrow his direction. "After the fifth of Jack that Belle gave her; I let her watch a few of the pay-per-view porns on one of the channels between 324 and 350." Chloe sighed and Shawn knew that he should just stop where he was. Unfortunately, Chloe wasn't smiling; therefore he still felt he had work to do. "You know the educational ones?" He offered smiling as the amusement curled Chloe's top lip. "And then I loaded her up with chocolate and caffeine and I think I passed out around three, leaving her to run with scissors."

Without missing a beat, Chloe scooted past him. "So you two got popcorn crumbs in my bed and fell asleep to Finding Nemo around what? Eleven?"

"I think it was closer to ten forty-five." Shawn checked the watch on his wrist as if it would actually help him determine the time he had fallen asleep the night before.

"Way to live on the dangerous side Brady."

Shawn scoffed at his best friend and laughed when she threw her hair over her shoulder and pretended to ignore him. "I'm married to a Jan, Chlo." He reminded her harshly. "I don't think I need any more danger in my life."

And it was true. After Jan had come out of her coma, she had been a completely different person, somewhat. She wasn't as brash or argumentative, and for the most part, she worked to mend the bridges she launched napalm at before she kidnapped him and blackmailed Mimi Lockhart. She had even gone as far as to throw Mimi and Rex and engagement party to apologize to them for the harm that she had done. Jan and Belle still didn't get along, but as far as Chloe was concerned it was a completely different matter.

"You've got a point there." She nodded, turning back around and leaning against the edge of the counter. Had it just been she and Shawn in the house, she most likely would have perched herself up on the counter by now, but she was trying to set an example for her sister, even if the younger Wesley child wasn't awake yet. "I brought you back that CD you wanted; the one from that new group from Atlanta?" She snapped her finger as she groped for the name.

"Forney?" He supplied for her.

With a wave of her hand, Chloe sighed. "Sure." She huffed lightly. "It was in my junket packet." She reached into her briefcase that had been moved onto the kitchen counter at one point in time or another. "And I stole Brady's copy of the new Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, so –"

"I have never in my life seen you with one?" He offered, fixing himself another slice of toast and filling his coffee mug.

She took it from him without asking, and he just poured himself another. "Naturally," she decided, as if they had had this conversation before. "Besides I think it's the same one Nicole got in hers so he won't be without."

He wished he didn't have to make the obvious joke. "Is that bitterness I hear in your voice?" He asked off-handedly, earning a dishtowel to his rear for the joke.

"No." She barked. "I'm just tired."

Shawn gave her his patented 'yeah right' smile and concentrated on his breakfast. "So other than getting my crappy CD in your junket kit, how was your trip?"

Chloe knew she would have to give him the truth, Shawn Douglas Brady knew her better than even Belle did these days, and there was no way she would be able to avoid it. "I got on a plane with Brady and Nicole, I slept in the suite right next to them, and I was forced to eat almost every single meal watching her feed him from the chef salad's she barely forced down three bites of that I can guarantee that he hated." She bit her lip when she realized that she had given him ammunition for another 'I told you so' and then decided that her coffee was much more interested in the story than he was and continued. "Then I had to get back on the jet with them, on little to no sleep mind you, and now I'm home just to be annoyed by you."

Somewhere inside he doubted that he had ever heard anything more depressing. "Did anything **good** happen on this trip?" He asked curiously.

Chloe's mood changed again, almost too rapidly for Shawn to note the change. "We signed three new artists and I bought most of Joy's Christmas presents already." She said happily, changing the subject yet again. "Anything new in the life of Police Deputy Shawn Brady?"

"Not really." Shawn decided. "Jan decided that she wants kids."

"It's been almost five years, Shawn." Chloe had no empathy. "You knew that would come sooner or later."

"I was hoping for much, much later."

She sighed as harshly as she could force herself. "Men." She muttered under her breath. "How was Joy?"

Yet again Shawn marveled at how much like Belle Chloe had become as she changed the subject yet again. "Just like she is every time you arrange for Belle and I to tag team her while you're gone."

"You say 'angel,' and I'm going to kill you." Chloe pouted. "She's never like that with me."

There was no other explanation than the truth for Shawn. "She just loves us more." He informed her, as if it were one big secret.

"Damn it." Chloe's hand hit the counter with a forceful thud and Shawn jumped before almost running to Chloe's side of the island to see if she had hurt herself. "Belle's having that luncheon for Brady and Nicole today isn't she?"

By the tone Chloe gave him, Shawn was almost certain that the younger woman would rather stab her own eyes out with a rusty nail than attend the mini gala that his former girlfriend had planned to celebrate, for the third time, her older brother's engagement to Nicole Walker former Kiriakis. "You know if you skip it we won't hold it against you?" He tried to assure her.

"Easy for you to say," Chloe's hand jerked through her hair, and she wished she had brought something out of the bedroom in which to tie it up with. "You don't have Kate Black telling you that it looks bad for the company."

"You slept with him for next to two years, Chlo." He reasoned. "You are his soul mate –"

Her hand clamped over his mouth before he had time to register that she had done it, and Chloe's eyes burned a hole through his head as she warned him. "I would appreciate it if that phrase is never uttered in my home ever again."

Shawn honestly looked confused for a second. "What?" He asked, his mind returning to his previous statement. "Soul Mate?" And when Chloe flashed him another dagger with her pure cobalt glare he hardened his own eyes. "Or is it the 'you and Brady' part that you're having trouble with?"

"**That** was almost seven years ago." She came close to shouting, wishing that for once, Shawn didn't try to make her think of everything that she was missing. One year apart before her accident, and then four after she had come back from the dead, and her life was spinning once again. "A lot has changed since then." She told him gently. "Please drop it."

"Sure." He smiled, placing his mug on the counter next to hers. "But only because you asked nicely."

"Do you remember what Belle said was 'appropriate attire?'" The subject was officially dropped, and they were back to their usual morning after banter.

Shawn honestly took a moment to think. "I think she already laid out yours while she was here." He offered, hoping that he was right. He would catch Hell from Chloe if he had gotten even one of Belle's mental memos wrong when repeating it back to her. "It's hanging on the back of the bathroom door."

"How is she?"

It took him a moment to remember which of the many 'she's' Chloe was talking about. "Complaining that she's tired and her feet are swollen."

"That's what she gets for getting knocked up." She laughed at how truly unsympathetic she had become just by waking up. "At least I did it the smart way."

"Waited for your parents to die in a car crash so you could get one already potty trained?" Shawn offered, knowing that had he tried to make it sound more serious, Chloe would now be a puddle on the floor.

"Yep." She said almost cheerfully. "I never do things half-way." She set her mug back on the counter and looked out across the bar counter that separated the kitchen from the living room, her mind already coming back to how she had wound up like this; a single mother of one with no parents and a career that took up far too much of her time. _At_ _least the house was beautiful_. She told herself carefully, wiping a tear from her eye before closing them.

She had found it almost six months after her reconstructive surgery, after an exceptionally nasty run-in with Nicole. She went for a drive to clear her head before returning to her parent's house and came across the land on the outskirts of town. The real-estate agent who was holding the open house had told her that it had been originally commissioned for a wealthy man as a wedding present for his grandson, and the second she stepped inside; she knew it was just what she needed.

The three bedroom, two bath country house sat in the middle of a five acre lot had a refined rustic look to it with its large windows and spacious outside layout. There was an inset porch on the front and a deck in the back that connected to an oversized covered gazebo on the end of the house. It was the gazebo that had attracted Chloe to it in the first place. And the inside matched the out perfectly. Vaulted ceilings and open archways made her feel freer than she had ever felt since her accident.

The master bedroom was located downstairs through a hallway to the right of the living room. The master bath had just been equipped with a _Sanijet_ pipe-less whirlpool tub large enough to most likely hold her entire family. The kitchen was on the other side of the house, with a butcher block built into the island and cherry wood finish on all of the cabinets. Two sets of stairs converged halfway up the center landing to lead upstairs, one coming from the hallway the master suite was on the other side almost positioned in the middle of the entryway. There was a large family area at the top of the stairs with two bedrooms down a hall to the left and a bonus room to the right that she was told could be refit to create two separate rooms.

She had gone to the bank and made her offer directly after leaving the house.

Nancy had helped her move a week after that.

Three weeks after that she had gotten the one phone call that no one ever wants. Her parents had been in an accident. And her sister was alone in New York.

So Chloe had done the only thing she could do. She and Belle cleaned out her parent's penthouse, rented a U-Haul and moved Joy out to Salem to live with her. Thanks to Belle and her brother she had gotten a job at Basic Black, working as a sort of personal assistant for John, and within two short years, when John decided to expand the music division, Chloe had been made President of the Black Label. Sharing creative control with his son and cutting her way into the music business as a force to be reckoned with.

Shawn watched her jump as the phone rang, cutting off her memories and when she cursed, he had to cut the smile off of his face. It didn't last long.

"You get that," Shawn grinned, watching her check the caller ID. "I'll go wake up the Sleepy Monster." He watched her mutter in frustration before turning to the stairs.

"Tell her if she's dressed in half an hour I'll take her to breakfast before we have to go to the Penthouse." Chloe hit the button on the cordless and pulled the plastic up to her ear. "Hello?"

"Hello Ms. Lane."

Chloe knew for certain that she didn't have time for this. "Good morning Lindy," She said gently, trying her hardest not to take her frustrations out on the poor woman. "What's up?"

The woman on the other end of the phone laughed carefully, not too certain what the mood was going to be set at for this conversation. "Mr. Black wanted me to call and make sure that you made it home safely this morning."

"Of course he did." Not for the first time since John had convinced her to take the position as President of the newly founded Basic Black music label, Chloe cursed the man's oldest child. Only Brady Black would be at the office the Saturday after getting home from a business trip, especially when he should have been getting ready for the party that his sister was holding in his honor. "Is he available?"

The voice sounded mechanical as she searched for the button to transfer the call. "Hold on one moment please."

One click of the line later and Chloe could almost feel his presence over the phone. "Brady Black." He said confidently, no doubt sitting behind his desk with a French Vanilla cappuccino in his hand.

"It's Saturday, Black. " Chloe snapped, trying to be civil. "Go home."

Brady couldn't help the friendly laugh that escaped his lips. "And a good morning to you too, Chloe." He took a sip of his coffee and leaned back in his chair, almost certain that this was going to be an interesting conversation. "You made it home all right?"

"Of course I did, **Dad**." She muttered under her breath, wishing that she had just let the machine pick up the phone to begin with. "And now I'm getting ready to take Joy to breakfast before we have to be at the penthouse for your party." She ran a hand through her hair and poured herself another mug of coffee and almost drained it in one gulp. "Is there something I can do for you?"

Her sarcasm only caused Brady to smile wider. "Not really," he decided. "I was just calling to make sure that you were still alive. You looked a little tired on the plane and I was worried."

"That's nice Brady." He could feel her irritation and somehow Brady didn't understand how he was the cause of it. Chloe knew that he just wanted to make sure she was safe; there had been no underlying tones to his gesture. Then again, lately it didn't take more than the sound of his name for her to become irate. "I need to go."

"Chloe." He started, knowing before the full word was out of his mouth that she would cut him off.

And cut him off she did. "Bye now." She quipped as she mashed the end button and dropped the cordless onto the counter. Taking a deep breath, Chloe forced the tension out of her limbs.

"Do I even have to guess who you just hung up on?" When had Shawn appeared in the kitchen again? And why hadn't she noticed?

"You can if you want." Chloe had residual irritation seeping from her as she realized that Shawn was purposefully trying to bait her.

"I'm only sure he was just trying to be nice."

"I don't do **nice**, Shawn." Chloe said harshly, pulling the piece of bread out of the toaster. "Least of all to him." She dropped the toast on the plate. "Least of all today." The plate was almost thrown at him and he was glad that he was used to Chloe and her tantrums. "Now where's the damn dress?"

Little feet announced a third person to the room; and seven year old Joy Wesley smiled sleepily, both eyes still closed. "Morning."

Her eyes softened almost immediately, and Chloe kissed her sister on the top of the head. "Good morning sleepy head." Shawn didn't miss the 180 that turned Chloe into the single mother. "Do you want me to braid your hair today?"

Joy took the glass of apple juice out of Chloe's hand and smiled. "No thank you." She opened one eye cautiously, peered into the glass and shut it again. Then she took a sip and shook her head. "I want to wear it down."

It still amazed Chloe that she had done so well with Joy. "At least go get your pins so we can get it out of your face." Joy set the half-finished glass of juice next to the half-eaten toast and turned. "I think there are still a few in my bathroom, in the drawer with my hairbrush." Joy raced from the room and Chloe returned to her task of cleaning off the kitchen island. "You know you're welcome to come with us."

He shook his head, almost wishing that he were able to ride with her, to help with a day like today. "Jan's expecting me at home so we can ride to this thing together." Chloe flashed him a half smile and he took the toast off of the plate she was throwing into the sink. "She's taking her job as... whatever of honor very seriously."

"Matron." She said carefully, sounding almost as if she was scolding a child. "Matron of honor."

"Weddings are for women anyway." Shawn shook his head, taking a last bite of his toast before shoving his cell phone into his pocket and trying to fish his keys out of the bowl that Chloe kept hers in. "I don't need to know this stuff." He kissed Chloe on the forehead and then scooted out of the room.

"Men." She muttered again, before taking her hairbrush out of her sister's hand and making quick work of the thick head of hair in front of her. She set the brush on the counter and turned Joy to look at her. "Did you have fun with Shawn and Belle?" She asked, playing with wisps of Joy's hair to make sure it looked perfect.

Joy nodded and smiled slowly. "Can I wear my new dress today?" She asked slowly, watching a slight confusion fall over Chloe's features.

For a second, Chloe wanted to call Belle and demand to know why the younger Black insisted on cleaning out every single kid store from Salem to Paris to outfit her younger sister. Then she sighed when she realized exactly which dress Joy was talking about. Then she frowned. Finally Chloe could add something to her list of things she was actually allowed to be upset about today.

"So Aunt Jan dropped your gown off while I was gone?" She asked, knowing full well before her sister nodded that it was completely rhetorical. Of course Jan dropped the dress off, and apparently she had shown it to Joy when she had done it. "Sorry, Monster." Chloe shook her head. "You can't wear that dress until February." She watched her sister begin to pout and held up her hands. "You're the one that wanted to be in the wedding, Joy." She pointed out and almost gave up. "Why don't you wear something that your Aunt Belle bought you while I was gone, and you can model the flower girl dress for me when we get home?"

She hadn't agreed before Joy took off across the kitchen and her small feet raced up the stairs. "I'll take that as a 'yes.'" Chloe said to herself turning back to her briefcase, smiling briefly when she noticed the chocolate bar and Excedrin that Shawn had obviously set out before he left. She opened both, swallowing two pills dry and then finishing off her coffee before taking a bite of her chocolaty goodness on her way back to her bedroom.

It was going to be a **long** day.

* * *

Three hours later, Chloe readjusted the strap on her sister's dress before knocking again on the door to the Black Penthouse. She was allowed one last calming breath before the solid door was pulled open, and Phillip Kiriakis smiled down at her from the other side. "Chloe." He said shortly, pulling her into a hug and whispering gently into her ear. "All of the mocha chocolate chip you can eat if you're civil."

When she pulled away, his smile was comforting again and she gave her best reassuring smirk in return. "I'm always civil." She reminded him, taking Joy by the hand and trying to move the child into the Penthouse. "Why don't you go find your Uncle Shawn?" She asked Joy after a moment, spotting Shawn sitting in the dining room looking bored between Belle and his mother, with his younger brother squirming in his lap. "I think Zack might be there."

At the sound of her best friend's name, Joy winked up at Chloe and started to run off, only to catch herself and readjust to a brisk walk.

"You've done well." Phillip told her after a moment; both of them watching as Joy politely interrupted into whatever it was that Belle was telling Shawn and his mother, and magically seemed to release the older and younger male Brady's from having to listen.

"I did, didn't I?" She asked him in return, allowing a true smile to brighten her features. Over the years they had been together, Chloe and Joy had truly become a mother-daughter pair, first in action, and then by law when Chloe adopted shortly before their first Christmas together. Although she still remembered Nancy and Craig Wesley and she understood that biologically Chloe was her sister, she still saw Chloe as her mother. "Thankfully I haven't had to do it alone." She pulled Phillip into a hug again and discretely wiped a tear from her eye.

There was a tap on her shoulder, and Chloe turned just in time to be pulled into another furious hug. "Get your own husband." Belle warned playfully, swatting Phillip on the arm when he scoffed.

"You can keep him." Chloe allowed, just as playfully. "Been there, had that." She reminded her best friend, taking a drink from the pregnant woman and turning back to scan the room. In the far corner, her eyes met Brady's and both nodded to acknowledge each other.

"Although it seems she's looking to steal someone else's." Shawn slid behind Belle to avoid being hit, and Chloe's eyes shot him a warning.

Rex joined the group and kissed Chloe on the cheek in greeting. "He's not married yet." He returned, pulling his wife into the conversation, more or less against Mimi's will.

Chloe didn't understand why they seemed to want to joke about her relationship with Brady Black. They had been perfectly content to subtle hints before Brady announced his engagement to Nicole Walker, but now it had turned into a full on contest to see who could drive her insane first. "That's enough." She admonished bluntly. "If I'm supposed to be civil, you four are supposed to be mature." Chloe ran a hand through her hair, curled as per Belle's instructions, and she bit her cheek as she sauntered away from the group, weaving in and out of the investors, family members and friends to appear just to her bosses right between him and the door to the balcony. "Good afternoon."

Another swig of his champagne, and then another, and Brady finally managed to find his voice. "Good afternoon Chloe." He smiled, the hand that had once been around his fiancé's waist now resting in his pants pocket. "How are you today?"

"The answer I gave you earlier when Lindy called still applies." She warned him, her tone just as cheerful as ever, and even a delicate smile plastered on her face. If she had actually been looking, she would have seen Nicole pause. "I have those figures for you John."

With her attention diverted, Brady allowed himself to actually observe just how fine Chloe perceived herself to be. Her confidence came from her outfit today; anyone who actually knew her would be able to pick that out. A natural beauty by some trick of genetics, Chloe, who was normally trying to pull of casual Friday every day at the office in jeans, seemed almost out of place in the black Sue Wong cocktail dress that even Brady had a hard time imagining her buying for herself. Her hair had simply been left down, curled into a fountain of chocolate behind her and most definitely by force of habit her make-up had been kept light. As she argued by-lines and figures with his father, he had to admit that even out of her element, his ex-lover was stunning.

Then a tug of his arm brought him back to the woman at his side, and almost sheepishly, Brady kissed Nicole lightly before she wandered off in search of a drink and her bridesmaid. "I only asked you to work this up last night, Chloe." He heard his father say. "How on Earth did you manage to get it done and sleep before the party?"

"I was lacking good company on the plane." She smiled, throwing Brady a knowing look and turning only slightly to accept another drink from Shawn, who had plastered himself at her side the moment they both noticed Brady watching her. "And with the merger with Stone Records in negotiations, the sooner the better."

"No more office talk." Kate Roberts scolded, taking her drink back from her husband and playfully admonishing Chloe with her eyes. "We're here to celebrate, not to debate billboard charts and advertising plans." She leaned over to kiss Brady on the cheek and laughed. "You're boring one of the guests of honor."

Without missing a beat, Chloe's eyes lit up. "I thought that entertaining him was what his bride-to-be was for?" She asked snidely, realizing the second it was out of her mouth that she should have thought before she spoke. "I'm sorry." She said immediately, her eyes pleading with Brady to simply accept her apology and not make a scene.

"Now, now…" Brady mock scolded her, sliding a hand around her shoulder and leaning in to flash a furtive smirk. "Just because your last date was to 'The Murder of Roman Brady' doesn't mean the rest of us have to be bitter?"

Her hand itched to slap him. Not only for bringing up the terrible night of Kate's botched wedding to Roman, but for reminding her of exactly whom her last date was with. Instead she simply finished her glass in one swallow and peered up at Brady with hooded lashes. "Disastrous weddings seem to run in the family then, Black." She said as sweetly as she could manage. "It's a shame that the biggest one at yours will be the bride." She wormed her way out of his grip, apologized to Kate and took off across the room in search of Belle, and possibly more champagne.

From the shelter of the balcony, where he had retreated with Rex and Shawn once Chloe had made her verbal slip, Phillip held up a crisp on hundred-dollar bill and frowned. "I say Nicole never walks down the aisle." He handed the money to Shawn, who scribbled Phillip's prediction down on a napkin before pocketing both it and the money.

"You honestly think she's going to let Chloe ruin her wedding?" Rex asked carefully. They watched the room now with disinterested fascination. "That woman is like commando-bride, no small detail overlooked." Off his brother's sigh he did too. "I mean it's scary how much she knows about when and where Brady and Chloe even breathe each other's air."

Across the room, Chloe hoisted Joy onto her hip and Phillip caught the smile that brightened Brady's face at the action. "Nicole doesn't stand a chance." He said again, surer now than when they had first started taking bets six months ago.

* * *

"That was just too much fun, Monster." Chloe deposited Joy on the couch before dropping to it herself and handing the younger girl the remote. "Promise me we never have to do it again." She kicked off her shoes and used her left foot to scoot the coffee table close enough for her to prop her feet on.

They had made it through the rest of the party without incident, Chloe choosing to hide out in the kitchen with Mimi and Shawn, and Joy tiring herself out weaving in and out of the guests with Zack Brady and Jack Deveraux Jr. Finally at ten after five, after all of the official guests had departed, and most of the trash was taken care of, Chloe scooped up the half asleep Joy off of the couch and had been allowed to leave only after promising that the youngest Brady boy could spend the night with them at her house.

"What are you and Zack going to want for dinner?" Chloe asked her couch companion after a minute. She still had to finish straightening up the living room and start laundry before she could start on the office work that John Black would kill her for bringing home with her so soon after her business trip. Then she thought of what Sunday would bring, and crawling up underneath her covers and praying the world would end seemed like such a good idea.

There was Joy's indoor soccer game after church, and then Chloe had her weekly lunch with her friends while Joy spent time with her two favorite friends at the Brady House. She had made the mistake of promising Kate that she and Joy would join them for the family dinner at Rex's house. And to top it all off, it was her turn to make cookies and brownies for Joy's first grade class's Chocolate Day this week. Taking a deep breath, Chloe took the remote out of Joy's hand and hit mute before dropping it down onto the couch. "Earth to Monster?" She asked in a sweet singsong voice, almost pouncing on Joy and tickling her sides.

Kicking and giggling, Joy squirmed in her seat on the couch. "I didn't hear you." She coughed out, trying to find a place somewhere out of Chloe's reaches.

"Dinner," Chloe let go of the younger girl and took a moment to dig through the couch cushions that had been kicked to try to locate the remote. "Meal that comes after lunch," she clarified, "You and Zack?" She finished and couldn't help but to giggle at the way Joy's face scrunched up. "No, you're not getting pizza again, and I was told you had McDonald's twice while I was gone." She made sure to add quickly, watching the little light bulb go off in her sister's head.

Their expressions seemed to match for a split second, before Joy crossed her arms in front of her to truly mimic her sister. "Anything else?" She asked slowly, making sure that what she requested would be on the approved food list. When Chloe shook her head the grin got wider. "Pancakes!" She shouted as she snatched the remote back and turned the volume back up.

Closing her eyes, Chloe smiled. "Pancakes," she said slowly, trying to remember if they had everything needed for pancakes. "I think I can manage that." She decided at last, making a mental note to call Shawn after she stood up and ask him to pick up some syrup and fresh fruit before he dropped his brother off at her house. "Pancakes a la Lane," she proclaimed, slapping her hands on her knees and forcing herself to stand. She waited a beat before taking the remote back and shutting the television off completely. "Did you want bacon and eggs too?" When Joy threw her a pout and nodded, her little hand seeming to reach out for the remote. "Go make sure your room is clean." She told the younger Wesley. "And by your room, I mean your playroom and the family room that most likely has your stuff all over it too."

"Okay."

Joy took her time getting off of the couch and wandered up the stairs while Chloe righted the throw draped across the top of the couch and set the television remote next to the DVD player remote on the coffee table, and pushing that back to where it belonged. "And change your clothes!" She shouted as an afterthought. She grabbed the cordless phone off of its base next to one of the armchairs and literally tossed her shoes in the direction of the hallway that led to her bedroom. She absently dialed the number with one hand while the other ran through her hair, scratching the back of her scalp as she groped for a reason not to start her laundry.

"'Ello?" Shawn balanced his cell phone on one shoulder and his brother's overnight bag on the other as he finished retying Zack's shoes and managed to stand, almost all at the same time.

"I need a favor." Chloe said immediately.

"No," Shawn corrected. "You **need** to get laid." He told her simply. "But since **he's** engaged, **you're** picky and Janwould physically **kill** me..." Shawn held his breath and waited for the sigh that he knew would be coming.

To appease him, Chloe sighed, blowing more air out of her mouth than she really should have. "Can you swing by the market and pick me up some fruit and syrup?" Shawn shrugging on the other end was almost audible. "Joy decided that she wanted pancakes for dinner tonight, and we're out of syrup and berries."

"Pancakes a la Brady?" Shawn asked hurriedly. "I'm not even going to use the obvious joke here, Chlo."

She honestly could have killed him right then and there. "Strawberries, blueberries, and nothing fat free." She reminded Shawn, as if he didn't either go with or shop for her at least once a month. He had become a permanent fixture in her house since she had started going on business trips more often. They had found that it was easier to move one adult for a week rather than a week's worth of seven year old. "And if you wouldn't mind, I think you finished off the milk."

"It was Belle." Shawn snapped defensively, before taking the time to wonder why Chloe blaming missing milk on him and not the four-month pregnant woman was offensive to him. "But sure." He agreed, kissing his mother on the cheek before moving his brother out of the door. "Strawberries, blueberries, nothing fat free and milk?" When he didn't hear her correct him, he laughed. "We'll be there in fifteen."

Chloe hung up the phone without saying good-bye, setting it back on its base and smoothing out the wrinkles in her dress. She headed straight to her room, finally getting the energy to start laundry, and right as she stooped to pick up her heels, she noticed that her bags were still in the middle of the hallway, one having toppled over to rest on the side of the washer. Plopping herself onto the floor, Chloe just picked things straight out of the bag and either dropped them into the hamper, or threw it in the direction of her room to be placed in the dry clean only bag.

Once she had most of her things sorted out, Chloe picked herself off of the floor, dropping the first load of whites into the washer and added the bleach. She absently filled and threw in the Downy ball and stooped to pick up the basket, dropping it onto her bed before moving into her bathroom to pick up the other basket that was no doubt filled mostly with her guests' clothing. They always joked about how Shawn and Belle had their own corner in her closet, and both had been given drawer space for their nightclothes and unmentionables in the smaller of her dressers. In Chloe's opinion it just made it easier for when they stayed to watch Joy.

The doorbell rang right as Chloe deposited the second hamper on the bed with the first, and she was once again filled with annoyance as she tried to understand why someone with a key and a standing invitation didn't just walk right in.

"The door also opens from the outside." She instructed playfully, pulling the door open fully and stopping. "Change in plans?" Chloe inquired after a second, looking down at the tear stained face of Jack Jr. standing beside her best friend.

"It's a long story that I'm not going to be explaining in front of anyone under the age of twenty one." Shawn ushered both of them into the house, handing Zack and Jack the bag of fruit and the bag containing syrup and ice cream respectively. The milk was deposited into Chloe's outstretched arms, and when the boys took off to the kitchen, all Chloe allowed was her eyebrow to rise.

"Abigail is in the process of being murdered by her parents." He explained the best he could as they walked side by side into the kitchen. "They got the phone call to go get Jack right before we left. I couldn't leave the poor kid with Mom and Dad."

Chloe opened the refrigerator and cleared a spot for the milk, taking the ice cream that the boys had just dumped into the fridge, bag and all, and put it in its rightful spot in the freezer. "It's fine." She decided; laughing at the way the boys just stood on the other side of the island watching her. "Joy's upstairs guys," she dismissed. "I'll shout for dinner."

When it was just the two of them again, Chloe pointed to the panty door. "So what did Abby do exactly?" She asked as she pulled the canisters of flour and sugar out of the cabinet above the stove range. She set them down on the island and pointed to the spice rack before pulling the milk out again. Shawn set the salt and baking powder down next to the Toll House semi sweet morsels and he reached into the cabinet under the island for a large mixing bowl as Chloe pulled the frying pan out of its hiding place and heated the range.

"It seems that my second cousin has come home from Stanford pregnant." He informed Chloe as he mixed the batter, seeming to be paying more attention to the food than his conversation. When he heard Chloe gasp, he smiled. "But - and this is what is causing the uproar at the Deveraux household - she has yet to introduce this man to any member of the family nor does she intend to. Apparently they do not have any interest in seeing each other socially again, and Abby is even refusing to tell her parents his name."

Chloe took the mixing bowl from Shawn and stirred it once more for good measure before dropping a generous mixing spoon full onto the pan. "In other words, Abby had a one night stand with a man she doesn't like, and is afraid to tell her parents about it."

"Didn't I just say that?" Shawn shrugged and grabbed her rectangular handled serving platter out of the dishwasher, Chloe took it with the hand that didn't hold the spatula, and set it to her right. "Jack is furious, and I think it's taking all she has for cousin Jen not to have a nervous breakdown." Chloe dished up the first batch of pancakes and Shawn took the bowl back from her as she took the frying pan from his hand and cracked an egg from the carton he had set within arm's reach.

It was like a dance that they had perfected years ago, when she had become a single mother to Joy, and there was always at least one of her friends bordering in her house. The Diva had learned to become a short order cook, a maid, a nanny and a cheerleader all at once, and as Shawn watched her scramble eggs with one hand and blindly reach for the turkey bacon behind her with the other, he realized that no matter the circumstance, Brady Black was a fool to pass this woman up.

Chloe dropped the pan full of scrambled eggs into a serving bowl, and reached for the batter again, handing the frying pan full of bacon off to Shawn. "If Abby needs a place to hide…" She offered slowly, taking a sip of the beer that Shawn had opened for himself and finishing off the batter in the bowl. "I think Casa Wesley can spare the room."

"I'll call her tonight and relay the message." Shawn smiled when Chloe slid between him and the range to get to the sink on the other side without walking around the island. Almost as an afterthought he added: "Does the Casa Wesley offer include me?"

"What'd you do to piss off the wife this time?" Chloe asked none too nicely. "I mean you just spent the last three days here, so it must have been big." Shawn handed her the empty frying pan and Chloe rinsed it off in the sink along with the skillet. "Joy!" She shouted, looking directly above her. "Dinner!"

Three sets of footsteps could be heard racing down the stairs, and Chloe laughed as the kids skidded to a stop just before running into Shawn. "Set the table Rug Rats." He commanded, handing the plates to Joy, the silverware to Zack and the Rubbermaid pitcher of Kool-Aid to Jack. He grabbed the plate of pancakes in one hand and the platter of bacon in the other and couldn't help but smirk when he realized that Chloe had managed to clean and chop the strawberries without him noticing and now she was holding a sectioned off party tray with all of the assorted goodies piled high restaurant style as she juggled the bowl of eggs, syrup and two beers in her other hand.

"You dump those on the floor and I'll tell you why Jan is pissed." Shawn tried to bargain, laughing at her triumphant smile when she successfully set down her load and stuck her tongue out at him.

"You're going to tell me anyway." Chloe said triumphantly, dishing out the kids' food and allowing them to fix their pancakes how they wanted them before she even touched her own empty plate.

Shawn piled the food high and frowned. "You're not going to like it."

"I already figured that one out." Chloe pretended to snap. "Just tell me what it is and who you did it with."

Shawn reached into the back pocket of his jeans and pulled out his wallet, handing the small folded envelope to Chloe and eyeing the children in warning. "Phillip started it." He said defensively, holding his breath.

As she read the top line, Chloe put her fork back down on the plate and stared. "Shawn Douglas Brady." She shouted, standing up quickly and pulling Shawn from his seat. "Eat all you want." She told the kids. "And I want you guys to decide what movie you want to watch."

"Can we order Pay-Per-View?" Joy managed to say without bursting out of her chair.

"Depends on how much food is left on your plates." Chloe countered, still dragging Shawn out of the breakfast nook and through the kitchen to the formal dining room. "Of all the not funny things in my life right now you bet on this?" She snapped, throwing the paper at him and smacking him on the chest when she decided that the paper was too light. "How dare you!"

Shawn bent and retrieved the bets and the money off of the floor. "It's all in good fun." He countered.

"It's just hurtful." She turned her back on him and ran a hand through her hair. "To bet on Brady's life like that-"

His eyes bugged before he could stop them, and then Shawn coughed. "Okay…" He frowned, trying to mask the utter confusion. "I should be ashamed of myself because I'm betting on the outcome of Brady's wedding?" And when Chloe nodded, Shawn frowned again. "I'm not in trouble because Phillip, Rex and I are acting like you're a man-stealing harlot; I'm in trouble because I'm betting on the marriage of a guy that you won't speak to without a double barbed insult?" When Chloe glared at him, Shawn nodded. "Just checking." He shrugged, shoving the list and the wad of hundred dollar bills back in his wallet before heading back into the kitchen, leaving Chloe to stand in the dark all by herself.

* * *

This is an old story that I have finished and am not going to post. If you like it at all, leave me a note.


	2. Of Men and Swimming Pools

Title: I Know How He Feels  
Category: TV Shows » Days Of Our Lives  
Author: And The Moment's Gone  
Language: English, Rating: Rated: T  
Chapters: 1, Words: 8,411

Warnings/Spoilers: AU after Chloe's return to Salem after faking her death.

Summary: _I know how he feels, how strong his touch can be, when he believes it's real. I've been there. And I know how he feels_

_Official Disclaimer_: All Days of Our Lives characters and plots belong to Corday and the NBC. I do not hold stock either the man or the company. Chloe Lane, Brady Black, and any other character featured are NOT mine. The title, summary, and lyrics come from the Reba McEntire song _I Know How He Feels _and I don't own that either.

* * *

"You what?"

For the second time in less than twenty-four hours, Chloe was fuming and, once again, it was Shawn's fault.

They had been sitting at patio table at an Italian restaurant, sipping cool beers and lemonade while waiting for their check when Mimi had reminded everyone about the fundraiser that Kate had been planning for almost a full month. It was on Saturday, the last day of the week and, coincidently, the month.

Then Phillip had brought up the ever-present topic of who was riding with whom and how many people were going to be out of town. Chloe kindly offered to pick Belle up when the blonde mentioned that Phillip was leaving for Europe Tuesday morning. And Shawn had blurted out that they had arranged for Chloe to have an escort of her own.

"It's not a date." Mimi frowned, trying to take some of the anger off of Shawn and ease Chloe away from the tantrum she was about to display. "We just thought – "

"You just thought **what**?" Chloe set her lemonade down on the table and turned to glare down Mimi. "That poor Chloe couldn't handle going to a Halloween party on her own?" Everyone at the table shifted nervously and she honestly didn't know what she was supposed to think. "Did you call a service?" She snapped, her hand going through her hair and Belle flinched at the roughness that Chloe used when tugging at the ends.

When Chloe's rage had died down, Mimi's voice seemed to gain strength. "My brother," she started out quietly, not too sure if the younger woman was planning on trying to murder her before or after the party. "He's back in town, and he doesn't have a date either."

Another resigned breath, and Chloe turned to Shawn, somehow coming to the conclusion that no matter what was happening, it was his fault that they had decided to play matchmaker.

"Can we grow up?" Shawn snapped back at her. "Seriously Chlo, it's a date, a **dinner** date at a work fundraiser." The younger girl looked away from her best friend and took another sip of her drink. "You don't even have to change your plans, Patrick will meet you there if that's really what you want, but we're tired of you standing to the sidelines at these things."

"And there are worse dates in the world than Patrick Lockhart." Jan said from her place beside Shawn.

And it was true.

After they had taken down Tony DiMera, Patrick had officially joined up with ISA, moving to New York and marrying his work. He visited Salem as often as he could, for special occasions and holidays and the occasional stop just to say play with his brother for an afternoon or have dinner with his mother and sister. He had done well for himself in the last five years.

"Fine," she resigned. "Have him pick me up at seven." And when the triumphant smile appeared on Shawn's face, Chloe had to resist the urge to slap him. "But I'm not going to dinner with him before, and we're not taking a midnight stroll through the park after. She sighed, pushing her plate away from her and Chloe smiled weakly. "I've got to get going." She told them slowly, throwing enough money on the table to cover her meal and pulling her purse onto her shoulder. "I told Hope that I would take the kids to the soccer game."

Everyone seemed to nod, and Chloe skipped the informal hug session before fishing her keys out of her purse and walking away.

"The good news is everyone's still alive." Phillip picked Chloe's money off of the table and added his own to it before handing it to Rex so they could all chip in.

His wife nodded. "The bad news is that not only have we offended her, somehow we've made the night harder for her."

"It was hard enough." Shawn turned to his ex-girlfriend, and patted her hand. "They met on Halloween or something." He reminded Belle gently. "And once upon a time it was a very special holiday."

"She'll be fine." Phillip reassured the group, watching his wife pick apart the paper napkin in front of her and his sister-in-law staring at the seat in front of her that Chloe had vacated. "She'll be fine." He said again.

And yet no one seemed to believe him.

* * *

"Is this seat taken?"

Chloe's head shot up at the voice and her portfolio slipped from her lap to land onto the seat below her on the bleachers. The person attached to the voice stooped to collect the folio and the papers attached to it and Chloe almost snatched them out of his hand.

"What are you doing here?" The sounds of the game were around them, and since her sister was sitting on the bench for this round, Chloe dropped her voice. "And dare I ask where your other half is tonight."

"Nicole is meeting my sister and Jan to look at place settings." Brady answered easily, sliding onto the bleachers beside Chloe and throwing a small wave at Joy. "And I remembered Joy's game on your calendar and decided to watch and say hi."

She sighed, and busied herself with reorganizing everything in her hand that had dropped. Chloe would have mentioned that this was the second time this month that Brady had taken the liberty of looking over her calendar, if she had been better prepared for the argument that would have ensued. "Joy is going to be happy you came." Her voice was forced, and she frowned when the couple across from her smiled reassuringly. She knew how they looked, one woman dressed to the soccer mom nines in jeans and an expensive angora sweater over a cropped matching tank top, sitting rigidly next to a man in an expensive suit who looked to be trying his hardest to remain civil as an adorable seven year old girl looked on from the bench.

They looked like the typical American couple.

The typical **divorced** American couple.

With a wry smile, Chloe decided that the couple couldn't have been more right.

"I have some notes for your meeting with the board at Stone Records." She shook her and turned to the safest possible conversation: work. She thumbed through the papers until she came up with the right one and handed it to him. "They're not revised, but you're not leaving until Monday, so I'll have time to fine tune them." When Brady just stared at the paper in his hand, Chloe sighed. "I can't be there to run interference, so I thought this might help."

Brady smiled, "always appreciated," he answered as he studied her neat script outlining the individual members of the Stone Records board. It was the same outline that she sent with him any time that she wasn't able to go on a business trip with him, detailing who would respond to what jokes, and which person had the most influence over the decisions. Despite the fact that it came with a detachment that both confused and annoyed, Brady was glad to have her input. "Dad said that Vincent Cassman and his wife have accepted Kate's invitation to the fundraiser." He informed her casually, his eyes never leaving the spot of dark red hair as Joy bounced up to relieve a teammate on the artificial turf. "I think I'll actually have to buy a new costume." He said off handedly.

"Wear a tux." Chloe suggested helpfully, "Go as James Bond."

"Nicole could be my Bond Girl." He said aloud, almost slapping himself for the look that crossed Chloe's features briefly. "Cheap shot." Brady admitted.

Once again, Chloe frowned at where their banter was heading. "Cheap woman." She agreed, almost to herself. The game wrapped up in front of her, and Chloe stood, throwing her portfolio into her laptop bag and pulling out the bottles of grape Gatorade she had tucked into it when she had stopped for gas. "See you at the office."

And then she was gone, and Brady was still sitting, this time by himself. He finally noticed the elderly couple sitting fifteen feet to where Chloe's right had been, and when he flashed them a brief smile, they returned it, somewhat apologetically, and he shrugged. Finally, he followed her down the bleachers, pulling Joy up into a hug and ruffling Zack's hair with his free hand.

Yes, he too was very aware of how they looked.

* * *

The rest of the day seemed to fly by, Chloe managed to finish up the laundry while she baked the treats for Joy's class, while Joy and the boys played video games in the living room so she could keep an eye on them. Jennifer had called earlier that morning, and almost unanimously everyone decided it would be best if Jack stayed with Chloe and Joy for a few days, at least until the tension in the Deveraux house died down. Zack had been upset that Hope had not agreed with his idea that he should stay with Joy and Jack, but in the end he was headed home shortly before Chloe took the other two to dinner at Rex's.

The living room had been put back together after the children's slumber party, and Chloe smiled wryly about the fact that once again, she had woken up beside a married man. Slowly she thought that maybe her friends were right, maybe she needed a man in her that wasn't already taken.

Another half an hour and the kitchen had been cleaned, the goodies packed in Tupperware to be taken to school in the morning, and lunches had been packed and their boxes were stacked neatly on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator. Zack had been dropped back at his house, and Chloe was now helping the kids out of her Dodge Durango.

Mimi met them at the door, apologizing again for everyone setting her up with Patrick and promising to make it up to her, as the kids raced through the house to the back yard where the rest of the family was. Rex manned the grill, Phillip next to him to remind him how Belle liked her steak while she lounged comfortably next to Nicole on the grass by the pool talking about honeymoons and travel arrangements. Brady was standing to side of the back porch, laughing at something his father had said while Kate sat quietly on a patio chair behind them. Chloe had forgotten that Brady and Nicole had also been invited.

"Cassman's coming to the fundraiser?" Chloe started simply, ignoring the men in front of her and sitting herself down next to Kate. "I thought he and his wife were leaving for London on Tuesday?"

Kate jumped slightly and took a sip of her water to calm herself. "Margaret heard of the Children's fundraiser and changed their plans." She smiled carefully at the woman next to her and leaned back to her original position. Regardless of blood or birth, marriage or break-ups, in the last five years Kate had begun to see Chloe as a daughter, she and John's daughter, and despite the constant talk of work and money, she was glad that Chloe had become part of her family. "I'm glad you came." She commented, almost off handedly.

"I learned a long time ago that you don't ignore an invitation from John and Kate Black." Chloe joked, turning her head slightly and shouting for Jack and Joy to climb down from the oversized oak tree in Rex and Mimi's backyard. "Besides I like not having to cook on Sundays." Both women laughed, and John turned, finally noticing Chloe's arrival.

"You made it." His face brightened as he leaned over and kissed Chloe's cheek. "Good, we need a third opinion."

The look Chloe read off Brady's face just screamed that she didn't want to get involved in whatever conversation it was that the eldest Black was in the middle of with his father, but curiosity had gotten the best of her and Chloe perked slightly. "Third opinion?" She echoed, watching Brady bite his lip as a prelude to an 'I told you so.'

"Best honeymoon location." John said loudly, clapping Brady on the back and seeming to ignore the look his wife was shooting his way. "I think a deserted beach somewhere, but my son here says London."

"Italy." The word was out of her mouth before she could think to extradite herself from the conversation, and off John's look she shrugged. "Best of both worlds I guess." She covered. "You get the romance and elegance of Europe and white beaches and crystal water."

John seemed to accept it, and then he stopped, beer poised halfway to his mouth. "You and Nicole should think of that when you're over there for the Stone Records board meeting." He offered to Brady, cursing himself when Chloe paled and excused herself.

She couldn't let it get to her. Chloe forced herself to watch her sister play on the swing set on the other side of the pool and smiled bitterly. So what if John was forcing Brady and Nicole's marriage down her throat every time they were in the same room. Who really cared if she was treating what was supposed to be the happiest day of Brady's life like a funeral? She dropped herself onto the steps and crossed her arms underneath her chest. She was Chloe Lane Wesley, CEO and president of studio operations at the Black Label. Successful single mother of one, Chloe didn't need a man to define her life, nor did she really want one. Shawn was always around to fix pipes and help to move furniture, and Chloe had learned a long time ago that a person could live without sex. What did it matter that the only man she had ever loved, ever made love to, was marrying the one woman that Chloe had contemplated murdering?

A beer appeared in front of Chloe's eyes, and she took it, following the arm back up to chest and then face of the man who offered it to her. "You looked like you needed one." Phillip told her softly, moving to sit next to her.

"Got any vodka?" She laughed bitterly, taking a swig and holding it against her knees. "I'm fine, really." If she were looking to reassure her ex-boyfriend, she wasn't doing a very good job at it. "Just tense; I have a ton of paperwork that I have to finish before tomorrow and Jack's going to be staying the week with us..." Her voice dropped out and Chloe realized that she was out of excuses. "I'm fine."

"You realize that's the second time you've said that?" Phillip asked as he took another sip of his beer. Following her gaze, he realized that he was staring not at the children, but Belle and Nicole. "I can throw her into the pool if you'd like?" He offered nowhere near helpful.

"Really mature there, Phil."

He smiled and tipped his beer to her. "You want mature? I'll hire someone else to do it." When she giggled, he bumped his knee to hers. "You didn't rat me out to Belle yet."

"Saw no point to it really." Chloe admitted, shifting her gaze back to the children. Somewhere behind her, she could hear John and Brady start up a conversation about the Black Label. "If I told her about the bet, she wouldn't be surprised."

"She'd put money down."

Both of them laughed and Chloe nodded. "You're probably right." There was honesty in her voice that she didn't realize she had withheld from her friends. "I just don't know why this bothers me so much."

"Are you sure this is me you're supposed to be talking about this to?" Phillip looked around to try to locate Mimi. When Chloe hit his arm, his eyes met hers. "I don't think I fit the requirements for this conversation."

"Qualified is a point of view." She decided, taking another sip from the bottle in her hands and closing her eyes. "And you of all people know how I feel - "

Phillip cut her off. "Not really, I haven't had the pleasure of having sex with Brady."

She laughed again, and Phillip decided he liked the sound. "**So** not what I meant," she cut through her giggles. "I mean..." Another swig; at this rate Chloe was going to get drunk before she finished her thought. Maybe she didn't know what she meant. "Brady and I haven't been together in any sense of the word for a very long time." Chloe bit the inside of her lip and fought the urge to run inside and lock herself in the bathroom so she could call Shawn. But this was the first night that he had gotten to spend time with his wife in almost a week, and although she felt the overwhelming urge to talk to him, Chloe didn't want to ruin it for him. "I should be over all of this by now."

"You don't get to just be 'over' a love like that." He told her gently, and somehow both understood his meaning. "What you two had..." Phillip stopped and peered at his nephew over the mouth of his long neck bottle. "That was what the rest of use used to **dream** about. Your love truly conquered everything."

Chloe laughed bitterly, downing the rest of her bottle and holding it to her lips a second longer than necessary. "Not everything apparently," her hand trembled. "I'm starting to think that what we had **was** the dream." The bitter taste of imported beer danced across her tongue and as the truth slid from her lips. "No one gets to keep that kind of fairytale." Another moment and Chloe stilled to feel her heart beat. "I'm sorry."

"So am I." Off Chloe's look, Phillip sighed. "We are both far too sober for this conversation." His hand snaked around the banister and Phillip frowned. "And you're too depressed for this cookout." His hand curled around the object he was groping for and he took aim before squeezing the trigger.

Chloe was doused with water before she had time to draw breath for the scream that choked out. "Phillip Robert Kiriakis!" Her voice was one loud squeal as she took to her feet and almost tripped up the stairs. His hand readjusted on the nozzle, fitting the hose into his palm as he slowly pursued her, opening fire on his wife and ex-stepmother before advancing on Chloe. She was on the other side of the pool now, angora sweater drenched and giggling in sheer hysterics. "I **cannot** believe you! This is a two hundred dollar sweater!"

"You can afford it." His tone was casual as he let loose another fountain of water with a flick of his wrist. Chloe's eyes danced as she pulled the sopping sweater from her body, growling harshly when she realized that the tank top underneath it hadn't fared much better. She threw the useless fabric onto the cobblestone at her feet. "Besides, when was the last time a guy got you wet?"

It was his turn to gasp when she growled again, expertly diving into the pool, jeans and all, only to reemerge seconds later on his side. She was only inches from his face when she grabbed onto the edge and hoisted herself onto relatively dry land.

"You guys are making a **mess**!" Belle shouted from the safety of the deck where she and Nicole had taken refuge when the waterworks had begun. As much as she hated to admit it, she was enjoying the show her husband and best friend were putting on.

Phillip's concentration never wavered from Chloe's eyes. She challenged him to spray her again, almost uttering the dare aloud. And as he squeezed the trigger, Chloe's left leg hooked around his and she used his shoulders for leverage as she pushed herself into the water, taking Phillip with her.

They were acting like children, and everyone on the deck watched with astonishment as both adults surfaced. They sprung apart for only seconds, seeming to scramble for air on their own before resuming the fight. Phillip abandoned the water hose and he smiled as Chloe toed off her Keds.

Rex laughed, flipping the steaks over and almost having to brace himself on one of the grill handles. "Mimi, go grab a few towels." He barely managed to ask, losing his voice amid more chuckles. "Out of the pool you two!" He announced, as the bartender he had once been, like he was announcing last call. He used the hand holding the barbecue fork for emphasis. His brother didn't even acknowledge he had spoken as he roped one of his arms around Chloe's petite form to hold her up and placed the other hand firmly on her shoulder. "Come on guys", he warned. "The kids are better behaved than the both of you."

The kids were currently perched on the swing set, cheering on the two in the pool as Phillip expertly dunked Chloe for the second time. Not to be outdone, the eldest Wesley readjusted her legs, balancing herself on Phillip's hip with her left leg as her right kept treading water. In their current position, she knew exactly what would happen once Phillip decided to let go of her. And in a flawless move she had learned once upon a time from one of the men staring at them now, Chloe hooked a finger in Phillip's belt loop, opening the buckle and tugging the slightly too large pants at the same time she was relieving him of the belt.

Belle didn't know whether to be amazed or embarrassed when Chloe's hand emerged from the water, her husband's belt in hand. She certainly laughed when both of Phillip's hands released the younger woman in an attempt to keep his pants. Chloe dunked him immediately, with both of his hands under the water to rescue his pants.

"Apologize." Chloe was shouting as she pushed away from Phillip's chest, her leg still clasped around his waist.

"I don't think so." Phillip countered, slamming her into the water again.

As she emerged, Chloe sputtered, gasping for air. Her fingers deftly worked at the button of his Dockers, and when the zipper had been released, Phillip's eyes warned her that she didn't want to go further. "Apologize." She said again.

From his place by the side of the pool, Brady laughed. "Give up Uncle Phil." He advised, knowing from personal experience that Chloe's next move would leave him without pants. "She plays dirty." He didn't have to turn to know the glare he was receiving for egging them on was coming from his fiancée.

"Apologize." She said again, working her hand across Phillip's abs to the hip her thigh was not encircling. Had they been two different people, the position would be far beyond erotic.

Phillip caught his brother's eyes, knowing that either way this played out he wasn't going to live this down. Then his wife laughed and he frowned. "I'm sorry!" He shouted over the noise. "Just let me keep the pants."

Without so much as a nod, Chloe detached herself from Phillip's side, pushing off of him and gracefully sliding over to the ladder where Brady and Mimi stood with towels in hand. "Thank you." She said as she allowed Mimi to engulf her in a large beach towel.

Brady watched as Chloe attempted to dry off the best she could, her jeans and tank clinging to her like they had been painted on. When he heard Kate ask Phillip if he was all right, Brady shrugged. "You did promise dinner and a show." He smiled up at Rex, "although, Uncle Phil could have at least put up a fight."

"You think you could have done better?" Phillip questioned lightly, taking the towel from his nephew and smiling at Chloe, triumphant that he had gotten her to at least have a little fun.

"With both hands pinned behind me."

Unfortunately for him, Chloe's blood was still boiling and adrenaline pumped through her veins. Whether or not she had planned this kind of interaction, she was not backing away from 'Mr. God's Gift.' She stepped right up to her ex-lover, as if to size him up, before dropping the towel and shoving him backwards.

Once again she was in the pool.

"We're going to need more towels," Rex laughed. He was going to have to call Shawn and up his bet.

Brady sputtered water as he broke the surface, unsure if he was shocked or amazed that Chloe had dared to pick this fight with him. After all, this was the same woman that treated speaking to him like pulling teeth. But there she was, in all of her glory treading water as if waiting for him to make the first move.

It had been a dance they had gone through the motions of many times, just as many years ago. Brady tuned everyone out as he lunged for her, knowing far too well that the beauty in front of him was about to fake to the left. He met her on her rebound from the wall, using strength alone to pull her out to the middle of the deep end, trying to keep either of them from getting hurt. As she raised her leg to fix the same hold on him she had held on his uncle, Brady shifted right, catching her legs between his own. "Is that all you've got?" He asked playfully, watching her struggle to get her legs back. With powerful strokes, he managed to keep them both afloat.

"Ass," she growled, treading water for herself as she contemplated her next move. Unlike Phillip, Brady held just as much power in his legs as he did his upper body, and Chloe knew that unless she could get him to release her legs she wasn't going to be able to pull the same move twice.

"I can't help it if you've used the same move since junior year." He told her, feeling her lower body struggle against his. "Give it up Diva."

At the sound of the old nickname, Chloe's body went limp, adjusting slightly to the tension of his legs against hers. She leaned against him, bringing their chests flush and using his shoulder for leverage to keep her head above water. "Don't call me **Diva**." She spat, bringing both her knees up, dangerously close to his pelvis and when he flinched, she wriggled her legs free and attached them to his waist, using her upper body to push him down under the water.

As he went down, Brady's hands clamped hard onto her thighs, and for the briefest of seconds they grinded against each other. Brady righted himself quickly and his hands shot back up to her waist. "That wasn't very nice."

"This isn't funny." Nicole shouted from the deck, her arms hugged around herself and the scowl a permanent fixture on her face. "Someone's going to get hurt."

"Been there," Brady grunted as he pried her thigh off of his waist.

Chloe countered by purposely grinding herself into him again. It was a cheap trick, but it shocked him just enough for her to readjust her grip and seesaw him back underneath the water. "Survived that," she finished, shoving him back again and settling once more with both legs crossed behind his back.

Once again, Brady tuned everyone out. He followed her lead, pulling her against him, and for the barest of seconds, he could have sworn he felt her chest heave and her nipples scrape his torso through his shirt. As one hand continued to keep him afloat, the other snaked up the side of her thigh, and dipped to the exposed skin of her abdomen. "You're not the only one who doesn't play fair," he reminded her. His hand pushed upwards, and for the first time since he had joined Chloe in the pool, he was glad that none of their family could see what they were doing under the water.

He was in enough trouble with Nicole as it was.

"You're down by two, Black." She told him harshly. "Just give up."

"I'm not losing to you." Brady chuckled back, throwing a look at Rex and then following his view to Belle.

Chloe leaned forward, completely crushing her breasts to his chest. She ground hard onto him and released the hold her legs had at the same moment she pushed downwards, completely submerging Brady underneath the water.

When Brady came up, spitting water and blowing air out of his nose, he sighed. "You already have." Chloe forced out, pushing down on him again and kicking her way back to the ladder.

* * *

"I was going to threaten to get the hose out, but that was what started this." Mimi commented wryly as she hauled Chloe into her overly large bathroom, shoving another towel at the younger girl. "Seriously Chloe, that was a little beyond water wrestling."

"Sorry." She answered automatically, pulling her tank over her head and dropping it into the bathtub. "Damn." She muttered just as softly. Even her bra was soaked.

Mimi threw a matching bra and pantie set at her friend, for once grateful that they were the same size. "That's what you get for attacking men in my pool." She admonished harshly, playing the part of the jilted mother ever so well. "You could have hurt yourself." She decided at last.

"With Phillip?" Chloe laughed as she turned away, pulling the soaking wet silk from her body and toweling off before sliding lace back into its place. "Never." And it was true. The two of them were just playing around. The second either one of them thought that the other could have gotten injured, they would have stopped.

The room cloaked with seriousness again, and Mimi shook her head. "With Brady." She amended. "You two were really going at it." She heard the words come out of her mouth, and instantly wished she could take them back.

"No one was going to get hurt." Chloe said, suddenly glad that it was Mimi she was in the bathroom with. Shawn and Belle would have put her to the firing squad for the stunt she pulled. "No matter what Brady and I think of one another, we wouldn't think of actually putting the other in danger."

"There's more to getting hurt than the physical Chloe." Mimi reminded her gently, handing her a hairbrush and a fresh pair of jeans.

Chloe peeled her jeans away from her tanned legs and towel dried the rest of her body, wrapping her hair up before changing into the rest of the clothes she had been brought. "Thank you for the reminder, **Mom**." Her tone was once again sarcastic, and Mimi had to pretend she didn't hear it. "But I am in no danger of getting hurt by Brady Black again."

The doorbell rang, the haunting noise seeming to contradict what Chloe had just said.

Mimi seemed completely unaware at how rattled Chloe was. "That's probably Patrick."

Snatching the halter out of Mimi's hands, Chloe shrugged it on readjusting it over her borrowed jeans. "Patrick?" She asked harshly, watching Mimi take her clothes out of the tub and wrap them in her not quite drenched towel before taking them out of the room.

When she appeared again, Mimi just smiled. "Yep it was my brother." She watched Chloe frown, taking in her drowned rat appearance in the mirror before turning back to her.

"Can I borrow you're hair dryer?"

* * *

The deck seemed too small.

Ten minutes after leaving Chloe, a hair dryer and her make-up kit alone in the master bathroom, Mimi was attempting to finish putting the picnic fixings on the table, weaving past her in-laws, and she had come to the conclusion that almost fifty square feet of deck was not enough room for this family.

"Let me help you with that." Patrick's hand caught the bowl of mashed potatoes that she almost dropped and for once Mimi was glad that her brother had startled her. "You're going to kill dinner." He commented as he dropped it onto the table, watching her scoot it closer to Rex's seat and double checking the drink arrangement.

"We're having steak." She said sweetly, moving around the kids sitting on the stoop and into her kitchen. "I hear murder is a prerequisite."

Patrick popped his sister on the rear with a dish towel and leaned against the counter as she scurried around again. Mimi had changed so much in the last five years; there were days when he wasn't sure if she was his baby sister anymore. Style aside, Miriam Brady had matured; content at first to just be a housewife while Rex got his art degree and joined forces with the music world's dream team as the head designer for the Black Label. Then one afternoon she had seemed to get an itch.

It was simple really; she was tired of staying home, shopping with Belle and making beds. She had gone to visit her mother at Alice's and as the family jokes, the rest is history. Mimi had started working as a manager just to help her mother out. But in less than a year her mother was out of business, being bought out by her one and only daughter. Not that Bonnie minded of course. It gave her more time to volunteer and throw herself into her husband's favorite charities.

Patrick came back to reality with a gentle shove from his sister. "Grab that tray." She ordered carefully, hoisting her own full of refills and heading back out the door.

All Patrick could do was follow.

* * *

"Could someone go check on Chloe?" Belle heard her best friend shout, watching as Mimi and Patrick worked to finish setting the large picnic table.

She looked around her, Phillip still towel drying his hair after reemerging from the guest bathroom upstairs. He and Brady had been shoved into the bathroom together with some towels and Rex's clothes and that had been that. Neither man had told anyone what they had talked about up there, only now they wouldn't even look at each other.

"I'll go." She mouthed when Mimi looked to her direction, and she excused herself from the table she sat with Kate and Nicole. Belle stood in the doorway for a moment, watching Chloe set the dryer down and brush through her chocolate colored hair.

Chloe turned slightly, catching another reflection in the mirror. "God Belle!" She shouted, dropping the brush. "You scared the hell out of me."

"Mimi was worried about you." She said simply, moving and perching herself on the long counter. There was a silent moment when Chloe fought with the wisps of her hair that she never could get to go anywhere. Belle laughed. "Scoot." She ordered holding her hand out for the brush. "Now what's wrong?"

It was a question that Belle had asked her a million and one times, and Chloe still didn't have an answer for her. "Nothing." She fibbed, looking past Belle and reaching for the foundation Mimi had set out for her. "Just life."

She seemed to accept this, playing with the line in Chloe's hair until it was a masterpiece, and she didn't think twice about grabbing the foundation away from the younger woman and pushing her back slightly with one foot. "Let me," she insisted. "Close your eyes."

They sat in silence for a few minutes, Belle working diligently on Chloe's make-up and the latter trying not to chew her lip in frustration. She blinked twice, without realizing it, and before she opened her eyes, she heard Belle set the make-up on the counter next to her. "If you're not going to talk to me, you should at least talk to someone."

"Is that your way of telling me I need a shrink?" She snapped, her eyes immediately apologizing.

"That's my way of telling you that you're not hiding well." Belle frowned, reapplying the lipstick and handing Chloe a tissue. "Blot then apply gloss." She instructed, and that seemed to be that.

* * *

Brady was bored.

That was the only way to describe the feeling in him, as he was once again moved like a piece of lawn furniture. Nicole scooted him to the left and when he finally sat back down he was sat on. Maybe he was a piece of lawn furniture.

He had changed into a pair of jeans and a button down shirt, and after he and Phillip had come out of the bathroom, they had gone their separate ways. Phillip back to the grill and to follow every single instruction of his finicky wife, and Brady had reluctantly returned to Nicole. Patrick Lockhart had shown up shortly after seven, and Mimi immediately began fussing over him.

His sister had disappeared fifteen minutes ago. God only knew where.

There was a cough behind him, and Brady craned his neck to look up at the smiling face of his sister. "I need some help in the kitchen." She announced to the table, looking to Brady as if that was a cue.

"Sure Tink." Brady readjusted Nicole so she could sit by herself, and followed Belle. "What can I do for you?"

"Nothing," Belle decided, pulling the rolls out of the oven and laughing at her brother's bewildered glare. "The look on your face was just screaming 'save me.'" She told him, as if it were some secret. "Are you going to tell me what's wrong?" Belle's eyebrow rose at her brother and when he almost dropped the beer he had just picked up, she frowned.

"Nothing," he responded carefully, "Just life."

It was the second time Belle had gotten that answer, and on any other occasion, she would have found it funny. "You people have to stop lying to me." She snapped at herself, momentarily forgetting her brother was in the room. "I'm pregnant not stupid." She dropped the rolls into the basket with a pair of tongs and then turned back to her brother.

Footsteps forced them both to look up, and when Belle saw Chloe's face, she smiled. "Dinner ready?" The younger woman asked, prompting a nod from the blond behind the counter.

Brady just stood there.

There were far too many times in the last five years when Brady head realized that his cousin had been right. He was a fool for giving Chloe up. And regardless who started what argument, and how many accidents there had been, no matter the cause, it didn't escape Brady's notice that Chloe could go to Hell and back and she would just smile and laugh and the world wouldn't even know it.

Sad to say, this was one of these times.

Chloe took a bottle of Evian from his sister and offered to carry the rolls and, when Belle declined, she was gone. There was no acknowledgment that he had even been standing there. She even expertly side stepped him when he tried to open the door for her.

Dumbly he followed her out, making sure to catch the door for his sister.

He slowly moved back to where Nicole sat in the corner with his stepmother, and he even allowed her to readjust him in the chair without a fuss. Brady watched as Chloe was reintroduced to Patrick, with a light smile and a quick laugh, both signs that Chloe was uncomfortable, but no one else would ever have had a clue.

No one but him, that was.

Somehow that wasn't as disturbing to him as it should have been.


	3. Three Conversations about One Thing

Title: I Know How He Feels  
Category: TV Shows » Days Of Our Lives  
Author: And The Moment's Gone  
Language: English, Rating: Rated: T  
Chapters: 1, Words: 6,485

Warnings/Spoilers: AU after Chloe's return to Salem after faking her death.

Summary: _I know how he feels, how strong his touch can be, when he believes it's real. I've been there. And I know how he feels_

_Official Disclaimer_: All Days of Our Lives characters and plots belong to Corday and the NBC. I do not hold stock either the man or the company. Chloe Lane, Brady Black, and any other character featured are NOT mine. The title, summary, and lyrics come from the Reba McEntire song _I Know How He Feels _and I don't own that either.

_Author's Note: I usually don't add these things, but I'm just wondering if anyone's actually reading this. A quick review would be great. I'm going to keep posting, if for no other reason than to get it off my hard drive, but I'd appreciate it if someone could tell me whether or not they're enjoying it. _

* * *

So far the week had been one big blur.

Between board meetings, overseas stock packaging problems and the merger reviews, Chloe's office was lucky if they remembered what time lunch was meant to be eaten. From seven thirty in the morning to six at night, Chloe's staff worked nonstop. But once six o'clock hit, everyone knew it was quitting time. Chloe was out the door no later than six fifteen every single day, and her staff greatly appreciated it, even if they didn't have children to run home to.

Wednesday, however, there was no way that Chloe could foresee herself getting out of there any time before ten. She was going through the last of the newest advertising portfolio's marking the ones that needed to be sent down to the design department for Rex to look over, and no matter how fast she went, she never seemed to put a dent in the pile. And underneath it all were three more reports that she would have sworn she had submitted to John the week before. She could almost bet that there was a departmental change to them that neither concerned her nor mattered. Damn her inability to skip over the fine print. "Miss Lane?"

The tap at her door made her jump, but Chloe ran a hand through her hair. "What is it Skye?" She asked as nicely as she could.

"Here's the file Mr. Black sent over from Contracts." She handed the blue file folder over to her boss, and when Chloe eyed it, she almost laughed.

"Five bucks says there's a sticky note in there." Chloe sighed, tossing it onto a pile on her desk and nodding that it was okay for her assistant to check. Sure enough, there was a lunch invitation scrawled onto a yellow Post-It Note attached to the first page. It had become an odd ritual of Brady's since he proposed to Nicole that every file that went from him to her had an invitation somewhere on it. Chloe blamed it on the fact that Nicole was easily made jealous, and Brady was Brady. "Politely decline." She instructed Skye. Then she handed over the finished folders and smiled.

"You have a call on line one." Skye pointed to the phone on her way out.

Chloe stared at the phone as if it were poisonous. "If it's Brady I'm throwing it out the window." She shouted just in time for her assistant to shut the door. "Chloe Lane."

The person on the other end laughed. "I can't believe that's how you answer your phone."

Shawn's smile was infectious, and Chloe was grinning from ear to ear before she knew it. "How is my partner in crime today?" She asked carefully. Suddenly the pile of folders didn't seem as intimidating.

"Standing outside your office," the door swung open, and Shawn closed his phone at the same time Chloe set hers on the cradle. "I'm kidnapping you."

Chloe frowned. "I'm buried in work, Deputy Douglas." She motioned to her desktop, or lack thereof. "I can't come out and play."

"How many of those actually need you to read over them before they're sent to the proper department?" When Chloe sighed, Shawn took the jacket off the stand behind her door. "Exactly, you're coming to lunch." He practically picked her up out of her chair and set her on the floor on the other side of her desk. He dropped the coat over her shoulders and smiled when she reluctantly slid her arms into the sleeves. "Alice's or The Pub?"

There was a moment when Chloe honestly didn't know how she had gotten so lucky to be friends with Shawn. "Are you paying or am I?"

"I'm kidnapping you, I'll pay." He slid his arm over her shoulder and shut the door behind them. "Miss Lane is taking a long lunch. I suggest you do too." He handed Skye a twenty and flashed his million dollar smile.

"Are you sure you don't want to go to that hot dog vendor down the street?" Chloe asked as they made their way across the parking lot. "I mean you're the one paying."

Shawn bumped into her and sent her falling forward, catching her just before she hit the ground. "Just because I'm not pulling million dollar paychecks like you are don't mean I can't get a decent meal in this town."

"We'll go to The Pub." Chloe decided, readjusting her purse and patting her thigh for her cell phone. "They like giving you free food."

Again Shawn bumped into her. "You're a laugh a minute." He snorted, holding open the door of his truck and closing it after Chloe climbed inside. "Keep it up and you're buying."

* * *

"Mr. Black, you have a visitor."

Brady dropped the file he had been staring at onto his desk and sighed. "Send them in." His workload had doubled since the news of the Cassman merger, and since Nicole had been spending more time out of the office than in, he seemed to be playing catch up to her work more than actually doing his.

The door opened and Brady's head shot up.

"Good afternoon brother." Belle sauntered into Brady's office and laid her purse in one of the office chairs, before perching herself onto the other. "I'm hungry, and you're the only family member that's available to take me out."

"No I'm not." Brady waved a hand around the chaos that he unfortunately referred to as his office. "I'm swamped." He told her as nicely as he could. "Nicole's in Venice for the designer conference until Friday, and I've taken her workload on top of my own. I barely have time to breathe."

Belle frowned. "You're taking time to take your pregnant sister out to lunch." She commanded lightly. "Besides, this **is** business." When Brady raised a skeptical eyebrow, Belle tossed her sketchbook in his direction. "I'm designing costumes for Saturday night." She told him easily. "You're one of the last people on my list."

"You have a list?"

Obviously undeterred by her brother's pessimism, Belle smiled. "Yes, I have a list. Mimi and Rex's costumes were done last week; Phillip is surprising me with mine." Belle counted people off of her fingers. "The sketches for Mom, Dad, Kate and Roman were sent down to the workshop on Monday, and Shawn and Jan just have to approve theirs." She clutched both hands together and smiled as sweetly as possible. "All that I have left is you and Chloe, and **God** knows you're easier to deal with." Belle laughed. "Now, you and I are going to lunch if I have to cancel every appointment you have for the entire week to do it."

There was a moment when Brady actually thought his sister was serious. "Fine," he announced, slamming a file folder shut and standing up. He grabbed his sport coat off of the back of his chair and scooted his sister away from the chairs. "Where am I taking you?"

"Alice's would be great." Belle declared, beaming. "Thank you, brother."

Brady scoffed as he pushed the elevator down button. "You're saying that like I actually had a choice."

* * *

"So…" Shawn smiled at Mickey from their booth. They had been seated immediately, ordering drinks and their usual Wednesday fare. He looked across the table and transferred the smile to Chloe when she returned her cell phone to her hip holster. "Work?"

"Chaos." Chloe bit back, forcing herself not to curse Nicole's offices, the blonde hadn't even been in the country to give the latest order, although Chloe was definitely going to issue a warning to Camp Walker that if they didn't back off, they were going to have to find themselves another place to work. What did it matter that Nicole would have to re-staff an entire office? Softly she counted back from ten in Latin. She would get worked up after lunch. This was down time. "They're adding to the fundraiser program. Can I get you to pick the kids up and take them to practice?"

There was grunt as Shawn put his glass of water down and glared at Chloe. "You mean you want me to play Mom's Taxi Service again this week?" He asked incredulously. "Come on, Chlo it's embarrassing!"

Chloe scoffed. "It **is** not." She argued, pushing the lemon to the bottom of her glass of lemonade.

"Cathleen Morgan **still** doesn't believe that Jan's my wife." Shawn pointed at his best friend. "If it weren't for the fact that Jennifer holds the Soccer Parent meetings every other week, that woman would probably have half of the other Moms and Dads convinced that the two of us are shacking up in your expensive ranch house, playing family with Zack, Joy, and Jack, having more sex than any human is capable and feeding each other strawberries in bed."

"You've thought a lot about this haven't you?" Chloe cocked an eyebrow, watching his ears redden.

Shawn took another sip of his drink. "You think this is funny?" He asked as he threw a napkin in her direction. "I have half the town thinking that I'm sleeping around on my wife."

Her pointed stare was all he needed to take a breath. "You were in my bed four days ago." Chloe suppressed a giggle as he flung a straw full of water in her direction. "And now you won't admit it?" She questioned skeptically, pretending to be offended. "Oh, it is **so** over between us."

As she grabbed her purse, and began to stand, Shawn grabbed a hold of her wrist. "Fine," he decided; his voice mock-frantic. "You Chloe Lane Wesley are the best non-sex a man could ever have."

Chloe smiled triumphantly and sat back into her seat. "Not so bad yourself Deputy Doug." She commented offhandedly, taking another sip of her lemonade as she ran a hand through her hair. "So you'll pick the kids up?"

Another snort; "You are so lucky my wife is in Venice."

"With the bane of my existence," Chloe picked up her fork when the new waitress set her salad in front of her. "Apparently they're looking for bridesmaids dresses."

"For someone not interested in anything having to do with the joining those two particular souls –" Shawn choked on his burger as Chloe's foot connected with his leg under the table. "You sure do know a lot about their plans."

Chloe shoved a fork full of lettuce in her mouth and politely swallowing before opening her mouth to speak. "I'm alive and a resident in this town." She washed it down with lemonade. "Hell the resident part is optional. I'm fairly certain that there's some poor kid in Huizhou who can't turn on his television set without seeing the fact that Nicole Walker former Kiriakis is at the Royal Roman Fashion Show scouting for bridesmaids dresses running across the crawl." Chloe slammed her fork down on top of table and sighed. "And now she's ruined my appetite!"

"Huizhou?" Shawn's eyebrow rose.

"China."

"Can I change the subject please?"

"Of course." There was no way Chloe didn't know what she was about to be ambushed with. There was the only thing that Shawn had yet to ask her about.

Shawn had seemed to wait for this particular conversation. "Am I going to get an explanation as to how you and Brady wound up drenched to your unmentionables in Mimi's pool this weekend?"

"Who told you?" She asked quickly, not even bothering to deny anything.

Although those three words told Shawn more than anything else that could come out of Chloe's mouth. "Jan." he stated simply. "It seems Nicole was not amused at whatever happened."

"'Pissed' sounds closer to the truth." Chloe forced herself to dig in to the salad; almost ignoring the look Shawn was shooting her. "Phil and I got into a water fight, Brady got involved."

Shawn took another sip of his drink and leaned back. "And on the day the word 'understatement' was redefined, I sat in awe and watched." He quipped gently. "You want to try that one again?"

There was nothing Chloe wanted to do less. "Not really." She answered, her focus still on the plate of greens in front of her. "What are you and the kids going to want for dinner?"

"Nuh-uh." Shawn grunted, forcefully taking her plate from her. "You're going to talk to me, Chloe. Of all the people you can shut out, I'm not one." When her face fell, Shawn just sat back again. "You don't have all day." He reminded her.

Chloe wasn't sure if she was relieved or upset that Shawn was treating her like she was a child. Then again, she was most likely glad that Shawn hadn't taken any of her lies since Brady left. "Phil pulled the hose out on me." She told him simply, starting with the most innocent part of the fight. "I retaliated by pulling him into the pool."

"How did Brady get involved?"

"After we got out, Brady accused Phillip of not putting up a fight." Chloe's voice sounded so casual, not even Shawn was able to hear the underlying tones. "Brady wound up in the pool with me." She finished simply, "Water fight."

Shawn's upper lip rose. "Water fuck," he decided. "The way Jan tells it."

The cup slipped from her hand.

In seconds the table was covered in lemonade, and Chloe was still stammering for a sentence that didn't make what happened Sunday worse than it already was. "I…" She started, quickly changing her mind. Her hands were fidgeting with the paper towels that Shawn had seemed to pull from nowhere. "We…" A towel was thrust into her hand and the words still hadn't come. "It wasn't…" There was a long pause while the duo worked together to clean up the spill. "He's getting married."

"Should I point out that you and I have already had this conversation?" Shawn tapped her forehead with the straw from her spilt drink and Chloe blew a breath out of her lips in his direction. "Multiple times."

Chloe was still no closer to an actual statement. Instead she glared at him as Mickey brought her a dry towel and a fresh drink. "I don't have to defend myself to you." She snapped as reasonably as she could.

His shoulders relaxed and Shawn took the drink from her hands. "It's been five years, Chlo." He told her. "And you've not had **one** relationship with another guy." It was a fact that no one had mentioned outright before; a fact that Chloe hadn't wanted to acknowledge before. "I love you, and I want more than almost anything for you to be happy. History can't repeat itself."

Coffee met cobalt as their eyes met, and Chloe almost forcibly took her glass back from the man across from her. "It was an innocent challenge." Her tone was still, quiet and dangerous. Shawn had overstepped, and he knew it. "And if you think I'm going to let that man get the best of me again, you've taken too many blows to the head Deputy." Chloe slammed the drink on the table and glared at him.

Shawn nodded. Their points had been made.

The conversation was over.

* * *

"And so I was thinking…" Belle dropped her pen on top of the sketchbook on the table. "Brady, are you even listening to me?"

"Huh?" Brady's eyes snapped shut for a quarter of a second, and his face tightened as he looked back at the formidable scowl of his younger sister. "Sorry Tink." He touched her hand lightly before emptying the beer bottle in front of him and signaled for Bonnie to begin his soft drink rounds. "I'm just preoccupied with work." He looked down at her blank sketch paper and smiled. "Whatever you decide to dress me in is fine." He decided.

"Dad says you've been 'preoccupied' for the last week, Brady." Belle put her hand on top of her brother's and smiled. "I'm not going to ask you what's wrong, because I know you'll lie to me, but can you at least truthfully tell me you're okay?"

There was a long silence, and Belle almost thought that Brady was going to lie again. "It's just the day." Brady decided, almost entirely honest. "This close to the thirty-first," he embellished. "I think I'm just getting a little edgy. I'm fine."

Belle took that as good as she was going to get, and she idly sketched on her pad while they waited for their lunch. "You have to pick something Brady." She decided, passing her other sketches across the table. "I can't just go on 'whatever.' I'll want to put you in everything."

"Black." It was almost a random word. Just one syllable and it caught Belle off guard. "Whatever you design for me, make it black."

_Like your mood_. Although it could still be said that he had warned her. The closer it got to Halloween, the worse Brady would become. "How's Nicole?" Belle inquired simply. It was hard to decide what a safe topic of conversation would be for lunch.

"Still in Venice," and the conversation was murdered before it ever had a chance.

Belle couldn't help but frown. "Wedding gown?"

Again Brady seemed to scoff. "Bridesmaid," he told her dully, his bad mood doubling at the thought of exactly how much of his money Nicole was putting into their wedding. "She and Jan haven't ended the quest for the 'perfect dress' yet." Their food arrived, and suddenly Brady's burger didn't seem as appetizing.

"She'll find it." His sister took a tentative sip of her Sprite and smiled reassuringly.

"What's her costume look like?" Brady changed the subject without another comment. With his mood the way it was, he didn't want to snap at his sister for no reason. Belle was only trying to be helpful and supportive.

With a sigh, Belle took a bite of her own burger. "I honestly don't know." She huffed, recalling how the older blonde had hung up on her the night before. "She didn't want me to draw her one." Her brother frowned, and she matched his look almost completely. "Sad to say you two won't be a boxed set this weekend."

Brady shrugged noncommittally. "I can live with that." He answered almost too easily. The cell phone on his belt clip chirped and Brady snapped to attention. "Hold on." He told her almost at the exact same time he popped the phone open. "Brady Black." He announced coolly, suddenly Brady was a completely different person. "Hey Lindy," there was almost a smile present on his lips now. "No." A frown anchored the left side of his face and he pulled a pen out of his suit pocket and scribbled something on a napkin. "Has anyone called her yet?"

When the softness of the letter 'r' rolled off Brady's tongue there was no mistaking which 'her' Lindy was talking to her boss about. Then he laughed and Belle knew without a shadow of a doubt. Even after five years apart, her brother still had a single smile reserved for Chloe. "Someone might want to buy some ear plugs before she gets back from lunch." He laughed again. It was a hauntingly melodic sound that Belle hadn't heard in almost forever. "Okay. I'll be back before one." He snapped his phone shut and took a long breath.

"Problems?"

"PR has changed the HCF fundraiser program again." It was the first time since Nicole had taken over Basic Black's public relations office that he could include his stepmother's name in that office. Like Chloe, Kate chose to stay as far as she was really allowed to from Nicole. But with both companies housed under the same roof, the departments had melded over the months. "It seems that they're looking to showcase some very specific talent."

Belle smiled when she realized what Brady had been laughing at. "Chloe's going to **flip**."

The smile Brady gave his sister lit up his face. "There's going to be a mushroom cloud rivaling Hiroshima when Chloe hears who authorized the new program." A part of him actually felt sorry for Nicole's staffers. The building had only felt the wrath of the Diva once in four years. And in Brady's opinion once was enough. "Chloe hasn't sung a note in public since the Wesley's..."

"I'm sure she'll be fine."

"Absolutely no doubt." Brady scarfed down his burger at last, almost entirely in one breath. "Whatever she chooses to sing, it will be amazing." There was a sort of pride in his eyes that Belle didn't want to call him on. "I just know she's not going to like it."

There was a long moment before Belle laughed. "You just know?" She asked, not bothering to hide the sparkle in her eyes. "You know, for two people who hate each other, you –"

Brady cut her off with a wave of his hand. "Just because we can't speak civilly, work in the same general area, sometimes even breathe when the other's around, doesn't mean we hate each other." When had Brady's tone gotten so defensive?

"Don't tell me you two can't work together." Belle snapped, her tone matching his. "I saw first-hand how you two pooled your resources to get Lourdes' album out after Nicole fired the producer."

It must have been the mention of Nicole and Chloe in the same breath that got to him. His fiancée and his ex-lover were gas and flames under every circumstance. Belle just seemed to be the kindling for the fire.

"You're trying to find something that isn't there." He warned harshly. The empty soda glass slammed to the table and Belle caught herself flinching. "Chloe and I see each other by force two times a week at board meeting." His voice turned soft only for a moment. "That's that."

However, he had the misfortune of having Isabella Brady Black, the newest Mrs. Kiriakis as his sister. If the blonde thought she had even the faintest flicker of hope for her family's happiness, she grabbed a hold of it with both hands.

"Patrick Lockhart is going to be her date to the fundraiser."

She felt his eyes attach themselves to the top of her head. Instead of smiling, Belle concentrated on the rest of her burger. Brady was forced to give her credit. His sister was good.

"And."

One syllable had never sounded so dangerous. "He's called my office three times today asking about costumes and flowers..."

Again Brady bit his lip. He knew Belle was baiting him. Chloe, Halloween and her dating someone else were three things Brady would never be able to put together. In the four years since Brady and Chloe separated not even Nicole could force Brady to go out on that specific day in October. He and his future bride would actually be arriving in separate cars to the fundraiser.

Now Chloe had a date.

With Patrick Lockhart.

On Halloween.

"And?"

Belle watched as her brother glared at her, his eyes dark; pupils no longer visible. "**And** you can stop lying to me about you not caring." Brady wasn't the only one to inherit John Black's famous temperament. Belle just seemed to hide it better underneath her mother's eyes.

"I just don't want to see her get hurt." Brady snapped back. Belle wasn't about to get the best of him. Not now. "Patrick is known for trouble."

His point had been made.

Belle doodled on her sketchpad, her pen drawing out a wide brimmed hat beside a cloth mask. With an eyebrow raised to her brother, Belle colored the mask in. "I think I have just the thing."

If Brady had made his point...

So had she.

* * *

The atom bomb had nothing on Chloe Lane.

She stormed back into the building with a healthy scowl firmly planted on her face. Her first stop was her office, where she confirmed what an intern in the Public Relations department had told her while she was at lunch with Shawn. Then she raced down to the fourth floor where Nicole had set up her shop until the new building was complete.

"Ms. Lane." Maria Mitchem almost fell out of her chair when she watched Chloe step off the elevator and waltz straight up to the desk. "How may I help you?"

"You and I need to speak in Nicole's office." Her voice was barely controlled as she used the master key to pop the lock. "Now would be wonderful." She snapped, tapping the ring on her left hand against the door.

Maria sighed as she set her pen back onto her desk. "Call up to Contracts for me?" She asked one of the women closest to her before she followed Chloe into her boss's office. "What seems to be the problem Ms. Lane?"

As she took a calming breath, Chloe repeated the assistant's question. "Are you aware of the current chain of command in your department, Maria?" As hard as she tried, she couldn't help the tightness in her voice. And her annoyance seemed to only grow when Maria continued to stare blankly at her. "It wasn't a trick question. Do you understand the current chain of command in the Public relations department?"

"If this is about the program change, I assure you that-"

"Have you spoken to Kate at all today?"

Maria shot a look to the door and then returned her eyes back to Chloe's. "No."

"And have there been any faxes, memos, or e-mails submitted from the twenty first floor since last night?" She held her breath and waited for the answer.

"No Ma'am."

There was an odd satisfaction flowing through Chloe at the fact that Nicole's personal assistant seemed to be cowering in front of her. "Then who, may I ask, in **God's **name authorized the program change?"

There was a long pause.

"Mrs. Black told me she wanted something to spice up the fundraiser."

Again a pause as Chloe tried not to take the girl's head off.

"Mrs. Black?" She asked as calmly as she could. Her eyebrow rose. "You mean Kate Roberts Black?"

The older woman looked like she was going to be sick. "No." She choked out. "Ms. Wa- Nicole."

"So Ms. **Walker** authorized you to add a sing-a-long to the program?" When the girl didn't move, Chloe's patience waned. "Again Mrs. Mitchem, I am not asking difficult questions."

Brady took brisk steps off of the elevator, heading directly to his fiancée's office. He had known the second that Lindy had answered the phone that Chloe had made it back to the office. The frustrated receptionist in Nicole's typing pool only confirmed that the Diva was on the warpath. Sadly enough, it was up to him to head her off at the pass before Nicole came back to find her entire staff on the unemployment line.

The door to the office was shut, and with one quick knock, he pushed it open without invitation. "Can I get a cup of coffee please Maria?" He asked sweetly as he put himself between the frustrated woman and his ex-lover. "Half and half, if you don't mind."

Maria wasted no time in turning and running from the room as Brady shut the door behind her. "Don't scream at the staffers." He berated Chloe slowly, still not too sure if he was supposed to be shouting at her or with her. "Maria's been taking double cues from Kate and Nicole. She probably didn't know she was stepping on your department's toes - "

"This isn't about my department's toes!" Chloe's voice echoed throughout the room and there was no doubt that she would have been heard in the outer offices. "Brady, this is about Nicole and her lack of...decency!"

Brady perched himself on Nicole's desk and tried to smile. "What's wrong?"

"I have to sing this weekend." She stated matter-of-factly. "And that gold-digging whore of a fiancée -"

"You're overstepping Chlo." Brady pushed himself off of the desk and shook his head. "You can't walk into this office and talk about Nicole like that."

Chloe resisted the urge to slap him. "Her staff is already calling her _Mrs. Black_." She snapped. She wished Nicole were in the country. She would rather be standing here dealing with the woman who thought it was her job to make Chloe's life miserable than the man who actually had. "Her wedding is in **February**"

So that was the problem.

It wasn't that she was overly concerned with singing; she would most likely get over that in the next few hours. It was the fact that when she came in to question the change, Maria had called Nicole be something that legally she wasn't yet, and that struck a nerve.

It hadn't escaped his notice either that she had called it Nicole's wedding.

"It wasn't too long ago that the staff was calling **you** Mrs. Black." He pointed out. Brady was in no mood to placate Chloe.

"Longer than you think, Brady. My heart was still in one piece!"

"You do not want to go there with me." His voice was cold, dangerously so, and he stood toe to toe with Chloe without batting an eye. "Now I really don't give a damn whether or not you apologize to Maria, she was out of line to have one of her interns call and tell you about the change, I think she should have consulted with your office to insure you **could** sing before she just added your name to the program. But the one thing you are going to do is go upstairs, get your purse and take the rest of the day off."

"Are you handling me?" Chloe's voice was venom, and she was well aware of the fact that she was within arm's reach of the man. She could smell his aftershave.

Brady shook his head. "No." He responded, taking a step closer to her and raising an eyebrow. "But I will if you don't get your ass out of my fiancée's office and do as you're told."

Her hand came up before she could think twice about it.

Amazingly enough, so did Brady's.

"Go to hell."

Brady just stood there and stared at her, still holding her arm. "Take the rest of the day off, Chloe." He entreated, watching the fire dance in her eyes. "Pick Joy up early and take her out for ice cream or go visit Belle in the workshop." It was sound advice, and his eyes never wavered from hers. "The only thing you're really doing here is making yourself more agitated."

"Fine," she hissed, jerking her arm away from his. She pulled open Nicole's door and stopped, not too sure what was holding her in the room. Then she caught another whiff of his aftershave and she frowned. "Will this week ever get easier?" She asked him sadly, the fight completely draining from her body.

He had no answer for her, so Brady just shook his head. "Just go home Diva." He whispered. "Take a bath and have a glass of overly priced Chateau Margaux." Brady watched Chloe's shoulders heave. "I'll clear a spot for you tomorrow in the studio."

At last, Chloe nodded, her eyes scanning the office for any signs they were being watched. "I'll have Skye arrange my studio time." She told him, still not willing to look at him. "You just go back to your office and warn the **future** Mrs. Black that I am not amused."

"Nicole's not as bad as you think she is, Chloe."

Chloe finally gave in and gave him a quick glance over her shoulder. "Whatever you need to tell yourself to sleep beside her at night."

All Brady could do was watch as she ran a hand through her hair to compose herself and walked calmly through the typing pool.

* * *

Across the street, and two buildings down, Chloe ordered a cappuccino from an intern and stepped off of the elevator as if she owned the building. No one looked up except for the petite blonde on a director's chair, who was currently comparing cloth swatches with lace. Belle dropped both sets of high priced fabric onto the floor as she rushed in Chloe's direction to engulf her into a hug. "You look like you've had quite the day." The shorter woman observed, pulling Chloe over to a plush high backed chair and perching herself back into her own. "What's wrong?"

Chloe shook her head. Of all the things that she was willing to say to Belle, admitting an argument with Brady about the woman that Belle was trying to get along with, wasn't on the top of the list. "I had a disagreement with PR." She said as simply as she could. "I decided to take the rest of the day off."

"Well it's great you stopped by." Belle bounced off of the chair and over to the drawing table where sketches were laid out and organized with fabric choices. There was no doubt that all of Belle's seamstresses were working around the clock on those numbers. "I needed to talk to you about your costume." Belle grabbed an empty pad off of one of the stools and hurried back across the room. "You and I actually have to decide on yours. I only have two days."

"Whatever your heart desires," Chloe responded with the same amount of enthusiasm as Brady. "I'm not really in the mood to play pretty princess right now." When Belle's face dropped, Chloe set her cup down and changed directions. "Just make it flowing and dark and breathtaking." She decided. "I want something that is going to top everyone else in the room, and only you can create that."

Belle grinned at the compliment to her talent and set the sketchpad down again. "Well stand up so I can get your measurements." She commanded She pulled Chloe's hair up and secured it with a clip and then made notes of the different kinds of fabric that she would have to order while one of her assistants took the measurements. "What are you doing for dinner?"

There was a laugh and Chloe was finally allowed to drop back into the chair. "My lover and I are dining at Chateau Lane." She explained, watching Belle raise an eyebrow in true Black fashion. "I'm picking up pizza and Shawn and I plan to commiserate being lonely after Joy and Jack go to bed." She explained.

"Did my invitation just get lost in the mail?"

"You don't drink." Chloe pointed out, looking over what looked to be Mimi's costume. "You're in bed every night before eleven, and I don't think I need to bring up what happened last time you and Shawn got drunk in the same general area."

Belle blushed.

"My husband resents that remark." Belle chastised carefully.

Chloe took another sip of her drink and smiled. "Your husband doesn't know." She sang sweetly. Belle's face flushed again, and Chloe frowned. "At least you're getting sex."

"I'm getting wonderful sex because I'm married." Belle crossed her arms in front of her slightly bulging stomach and narrowed her eyes at Chloe. "You're not because you're picky."

For a moment, Chloe sighed, remembering the conversation she and Brady had in Nicole's office. Then she forced it completely out of her brain and focused instead on the friendly banter she and Belle normally share. If she was going to convince everyone that she was fine with the date they had set up for her, she was going to have to start on the group's strongest link. "What can I say?" She held her arms out and shrugged. "Once you have mind-numbing-thank-God-you're-alive sex with Brady Black, you're ruined for any other man." There was a moment when Chloe didn't feel as bad about everything that had happened that day. Slowly she peered over Belle's shoulder at what she was designing for her brother. "

"And the less I hear about you and my brother turned your ex-whatever you're admitting to now in bed the happier I will be." Belle popped her with the sketchpad and turned away. "Now get out of here." She ordered. "I have your costume to design, the creation of Brady's to oversee and you are playing hooky." When Chloe furrowed her brow, Belle popped her again. "I said out woman. Don't make me call security."

"I'm going." Chloe grabbed the cup and held up one hand in surrender.

Belle's face lit up. She didn't believe for a second that a fight with Nicole's personal assistant was what made her take a day off. She pushed Chloe to the elevator and once the door shut, Belle's cell phone was in her hands. "Hey Rex, How much do you love your sister-in-law?"

* * *

Chloe made it back to her car as her cell phone rang. She popped the piece of plastic off of her belt clip, and forgot to check the LCD screen before hitting the send button and putting it to her ear. "Chloe Lane?"

There was a click, almost as if she were being transferred and then a sigh. "Chloe, its Rex," he waited a beat, just like Belle had instructed and then he laughed. "I hate to do this to you, but I need a favor."

She wasn't sure if she was startled or just curious as to why Phillip's younger brother was asking her for help. "I'd go with the green eye shadow, Brady." She told him simply, allowing it to roll off her tongue. "It brings out your highlights."

Rex laughed and initialed on of the final posters for the outside of the Alice's. "If I wanted fashion advice, I would ask my wife." He told her, trying not to laugh. "Actually, I was wondering if you could come to dinner tonight."

"No can do." Chloe entered the underground garage and hit the unlock button on her keypad. "I promised Shawn I would get drunk with him tonight."

"Bring him with you." Rex looked over another design and shrugged, "And the rug rats. Mimi is having Patrick over, and I have no idea what to say to the man." Holding up his hand to still one of his designers Rex pretended to lay on his puppy face. "Help me out here. I'll do anything."

She sighed and dropped her purse onto the passenger seat next to her. "Anything?"

"Anything."

"We'll be there at seven." She told him as she slammed the key into the ignition. "Make sure you have plenty of wine and Mimi doesn't make red meat."

Rex's grin spread from ear to ear as he laughed. "Done," without saying good-bye, he set the phone back on the cradle and laughed. Then he dialed Belle's cell phone number to confirm his end had gone as planned.


	4. The Long Goodbye

Title: I Know How He Feels  
Category: TV Shows » Days Of Our Lives  
Author: And The Moment's Gone  
Language: English, Rating: Rated: T  
Chapter: 4, Words: 6,677

Warnings/Spoilers: AU after Chloe's return to Salem after faking her death.

Summary: _I know how he feels, how strong his touch can be, when he believes it's real. I've been there. And I know how he feels_

_Official Disclaimer_: All Days of Our Lives characters and plots belong to Corday and the NBC. I do not hold stock either the man or the company. Chloe Lane, Brady Black, and any other character featured are NOT mine. The title, summary, and lyrics come from the Reba McEntire song _I Know How He Feels _and I don't own that either.

* * *

_**The Long Goodbye**_

Soccer practice, ice cream, and a change of clothes later, Chloe parked her Durango back into Rex's driveway for the second time that week. She sighed as she reached back and unbuckled Jack's seat for him and handed Joy the brownies that they had made for Mimi. Shawn took the bottle of wine and the gallon of juice from the floorboard, which left Chloe to lift Jack from his car seat. The boy clutched her to him and yawned.

Again Mimi met them at the front door, this time to relieve Joy and Shawn of their burdens, and Chloe smiled awkwardly when Jack practically jumped into Patrick's arms. It was nothing but laughter as Rex announced that yet again, dinner had not even been started when the guests arrived.

"I'll help." Chloe started, accepting her first glass of wine from Rex and laughing at the way Joy tackled Shawn in the family room as soon as he had sat himself down next to Patrick and Jack. "Joy don't you dare hurt him." Her voice was nowhere near stern. "What do you have planned for us here Rex?"

"Meems was supposed to get started on pasta, but we got a little sidetracked." Rex actually had the decency to look ashamed.

Shawn laughed and Chloe handed him a beer. "Do you have bell peppers?" She asked after a moment, and Rex nodded. "Angel hair pasta?" Another nod. "Chicken breasts?" Mimi nodded this time, and Chloe clapped her hand together. "Okay I need an over twenty-one kitchen helper."

There was a second before Shawn wrapped his hands around Joy's stomach to lift her, and then Rex placed a firm hand on the back of the man's neck. "Patrick?" Mimi asked hopefully. "Would you care to assist Chloe? I have to talk to the men about the wedding."

Chloe rolled her eyes and had to force herself not to flee from the room at the sound of the word 'wedding'. "Sure." Patrick handed Jack off to his sister and followed the angry brunette. "What can I help you with?"

"More wine." Chloe demanded softly, knowing that she must have looked like hell. "And bans on the words 'Brady', 'Nicole' and 'wedding' as long as you're in this room with me."

Patrick nodded and poured her another glass. "Done and deal." He told her carefully, handing over the next glass as she began pulling ingredients from the cupboards. "What's on the menu?"

"Chicken pasta primavera. Think you can handle that?"

There was a sigh from behind, her and Chloe tried not to turn around. "If I respond with anything other than 'yes ma'am', will you throw me into a pool?" He asked with as little sarcasm as he could manage. Chloe threw him a look and almost snorted wine she realized he was grinning at her.

"All water sports are strictly voluntary." Chloe decided, taking another sip of her wine and willing her body to relax. There was just something about the way Patrick was looking at her. "And I don't think we'll be hosting another wrestling match until the children have passed out."

"That's a shame." Patrick took the knife from her and began cutting the peppers into slices. "I was kind of disappointed that I didn't get my turn." His lip stuck out in mock sorrow, and Chloe laughed.

"I'm only certain that if you hang around long enough, you will be able to get your ass handed to you by the Diva." As the nickname slid from her lips, Chloe froze. She shook her head and forced herself not to think of Brady. She was in Rex's kitchen, making dinner and having a perfectly reasonable adult conversation with another man. Brady shouldn't even stand a chance in her brain. "Although if a combat ready Marine couldn't get past me, I don't have too much hope that you will."

Patrick flashed another cocky smile and laughed. "I'll keep that in mind." He told her as he prepared the rest of his half of dinner. They worked quietly and diligently, not even having to ask the other to pass the ingredients. Two hours later dinner had been consumed and everyone was back in the family room drinking and just enjoying each other's company.

"I heard a rumor from PR today." Rex started out casually from where he sat next to the coffee table coloring with Joy. "Apparently someone lit into Nicole's PA."

There was a laugh as Chloe tried to hide her blush. "I wouldn't say Maria was 'lit into.'" She decided, looking over at where Rex wasn't even paying attention to her. "She received somewhat of a scare – "

"Word is someone from the typing pool had to call Brady to come break it up." At the mention of the elder Black sibling, Chloe dropped her glass onto the coffee table and shook her head.

"Can we not talk about my afternoon from Hell?" She asked bitterly, watching Patrick raise a curious eyebrow in her direction and she sighed. "Besides, we all have to sing Saturday night."

Rex laughed at the look that had crossed Chloe's face. "'All' is such a big word, Chloe." He told her as he put his crayon back in the box. Jack had fallen asleep next to him on the floor and he wasn't too sure how he was going to extract himself. "I just oversee the art department; my voice is doesn't have to do anything."

A curse came from the other side of the couch, and a slightly tipsy Chloe almost growled. "Nicole damn lucky she's out of town until Saturday morning." She grumbled.

"But you have a pretty voice." Joy sat up from her coloring book and climbed over the table to plop herself into Chloe's lap. "Can you sing to us?"

"Songs happen at bedtime, Monster." Joy frowned and when Chloe caught the guilty look spread across Mimi's face, she almost thought she was being set up.

Joy stuck her bottom lip out and batted her eyes. "Please?"

Another grumble and Chloe readjusted Joy in her arms. "Just one and then we're going home." She announced, looking over to where Shawn sat nursing his beer. "Where you will be put to bed." Joy nodded and Chloe leaned back. "Okay then…any requests?"

"First thing that comes to your mind." Shawn spat out. There were quite a few songs that he could have suggested, but none of them seemed appropriate.

There was a knock at the door, but Chloe paid it no mind as she thought to herself for a moment. She kissed Joy on the head and sighed. The room sobered rather quickly and she hummed a bar or two of chorus before actually opening her mouth.

"_When I heard that familiar voice,  
my heart stopped dead in its tracks.  
Across the room I could see him there,  
a ghost from my past.  
But he's too caught up to notice me.  
She must be his new love.  
I never dreamed that it would hurt this much."_

There was nothing that Brady wanted to be doing less than carting his sister over to Mimi's house to retrieve a borrowed curling iron. But Belle being Belle had insisted, and since Phillip was worried about his pregnant wife driving, Brady had been given the honor of taking her. He had made it out of the office, relatively unscathed after his not so argument with Chloe, and now he was faced with the thought of an empty mansion and an ancient bottle of Scotch. All he had to do to get there was drop his sister off at the brownstone after retrieving the curling iron.

They pulled onto the street and he hadn't thought twice about pulling into the driveway. Nor did he actually realize that there was something wrong when he pulled his Jeep into the space right next to a Dodge Durango that he would have recognized anywhere had his mind actually been where it should have.

Belle flounced from the car, a bag of something or another in one hand and two garment bags in the other, and she brusquely ordered her brother out of the Jeep to help her carry all of the stuff to the door. He did as he was told, for the simple fact that the sooner he got her into the house, the sooner he would be able to get her out.

The knocker banged against the door, and he heard laughter from inside as Mimi pulled the soft wood open. "Come in." The younger woman said as she pulled the door open wider. "We're just having drinks in the living room."

Brady took a step down the hall after Belle and Mimi and froze. He knew the voice wafting down to him. He knew it better than he knew his own. And the sound of it almost broke his heart.

"_I know how he feels.  
How warm his touch is.  
Oh how he feels.  
How soft his kiss is.  
And it cuts right down to the bone  
'Cause I let him go."_

When he stepped into the room, his eyes locked onto Chloe's form. One arm secured Joy to her body while the other hovered right above Patrick's knee with a wine glass in its hand. He honestly didn't know whether to laugh or run. Belle quietly opened the garment bag to show Mimi her dress, completely ignoring their friend on the couch, and for a split second, he thought that maybe his sister had planned this.

Then Chloe leaned closer to the man to her left, and Brady watched as Patrick brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes before she turned.

There was no preparing himself for the tears in her eyes as she looked up at him. There was no way he could steel himself as he normally did at the office for the look of heartbreak that was buried so deep in her that he couldn't deny it's origin.

_I know how he cares.  
How strong his love can be,  
when he believes it's real.  
Oh I've been there.  
I know how he feels._

Another bar of the chorus and Chloe stopped, the hand with the wine glass moving up to swipe at her eyes.

"I think we should get going." She told the room softly, readjusting Joy and then smiling carefully when Patrick took her from Chloe's arms. Softly, a complete reversal from how Brady had seen her that afternoon, Chloe gathered her purse and said goodnight to Rex.

His eyes followed her to the front door, where Patrick handed Joy back to her and whispered something in her ear.

Brady's fist clenched involuntary.

Belle and Mimi smiled.

* * *

"Chloe!" Shawn's voice announced his presence to the house, and Chloe silently praised him for using his house key for once. "Marco?"

"Polo!" She shouted back at him. "Bedroom!" Her eyes darted to the clock and Chloe mentally calculated how much time she had until she was due to collect Joy and Jack from school.

"Went by the office…" Shawn stuck his head through the half open door, and grinned. The Diva that could run a multibillion-dollar record label in her sleep looked to be sleeping on the job. For what was supposed to be her busiest Friday of the month, Chloe seemed too relaxed. In an old hoodie and a pair of track pants, Chloe looked like any other average stay at home mom, complete with the basket of children's laundry at the foot of the bed. "Skye told me you were sick."

Chloe just shrugged. "I was diagnosed with a rare ailment that can only be cured with massive amounts of daytime television." She informed him as she turned off the TV and laid the remote on the nightstand. "Sometimes I wish that my life was that simple."

A folder dropped onto the bed, and Chloe picked it up, scanning the top page. "'Timmy's stuck in the well' simple, or 'all of my dead relatives are being held hostage on an island' simple?" Shawn watched her try to hide a smile and his widened. "Skye said your fax machine was off, so I brought you that."

"Thank you…" Chloe set the papers on top of the basket, and firmly led the conversation into the living room. He watched her try to read and walk at the same time, and frowned when she reached her destination. "What's wrong?"

"Can I talk to you?"

She glanced at him sideways, her hair falling over her shoulder to hide the side of her face. "Which language would you like to use?" She asked simply, mocking the fact that he had asked for permission to carry on a conversation.

"Swahili." His voice was as dry as hers was.

Chloe set the basket of clothes on the couch and turned to the bar that had been installed against the far wall near the breakfast nook entrance to the kitchen. "Speak my tall dark and handsomely married friend." She ran a hand through her hair and smirked when she turned back to Shawn. The smirk dropped the second she saw his face. "Shawn?"

"Do you remember love?"

Chloe halted mid-step and almost toppled over a toy truck that hadn't made it into the bin. She watched his face carefully as if to gauge the way he was asking the question. "That has to be the most retarded thing you have **ever **asked me." She said after a second, almost following it up with a giggle.

"No. I mean…" He shook his head, physically trying to clear his thoughts. Of all of the people to talk to, Chloe was the easiest. "Do you remember what it was like to be in love?"

She studied him for a moment and decided against making fun of him. Of the five of them that attended high school together, she was the only one **not **married, and it just seemed wrong to harass the most single of her married friends. Then there was the fact that through good times and bad, Shawn was her rock. She had to at least try to be there for him. "Fondly," she smiled, momentarily forgetting the drinks and moving back to the couch concentrate on Shawn and the laundry. "Don't you know what it's like to be in love?"

Shawn tried to tell himself that she didn't mean her question to come out as sarcastic as it sounded. Chloe was just that type of person. But it dug at him. "What did it feel like for you?" He asked her curiously, now sounding more like his little brother. He perched himself on the arm of one of the large chairs in the living room and then slid onto the seat when Chloe raised an eyebrow at him.

"Me in love?" She thought of Brady, which was always a sore subject for her and then frowned. Shawn needed her help, not a story of a love lost. "I don't think my love life will help you much. I think it's different for everyone." She finally decided. Her hair fell over her shoulder as she shifted her gaze up to see her best male friend and then she turned away. "In all our lives we search for someone to love, someone who makes us complete." She looked up at her friend and gave him a sweet smile. "We choose partners and change partners. We dance to a song of heartbreak and hope, all the while wondering if somewhere, somehow there is someone searching for us.

There was an odd moment before Chloe sighed. "I'm the wrong one to ask this question. My one true experience with love has been my downfall." Chloe reminded him. "No act of murdering vengeance or criminal intent has **ever** done as much damage to me as love." There was a poignant pause and Chloe looked directly into his eyes. "If you give me a hint, I may be more helpful."

Shawn coughed nervously, and then scooted to the edge of the chair, blinked for a second before shifting again. "No." He almost croaked, thinking of his wife before flashing to an image of Belle Black Kiriakis. The thought left him as soon as it appeared and Shawn looked down at the dark-haired woman sitting in front of him. "Never mind," he coughed, standing up and running his hands over his jean clad legs. He stopped as if to add something else when his cell phone rang.

Chloe watched as he dug it out of his pocket and groaned when he checked the LCD screen. That could only mean that the person on the other end had to be the one he shared a bed with. He hit a button and put the small silver device to his ear. "Hello?"

She stopped paying attention after the first word. Shawn would just repeat the entire conversation to her anyway. Instead, she finished folding the laundry. Chloe got as far as to refold the blanket on the couch before Shawn told his wife he loved her and then hung up the phone. Her hair swung around her shoulder as she turned and then laughed at the look on his face.

"Jan has invited you and Joy to dinner tonight." He said after a moment, not too sure what to make of his wife's attitude on the phone. Jan and Nicole had gotten home earlier than was expected. She had been calm and almost too rational as she asked how late he was going to be out and if he had a preference between meatloaf and lasagna for dinner. When he had told her that it didn't matter one way or the other, and he just stopped by Chloe's to give her a few files, Jan immediately invited the older woman to dinner along with Joy saying simply 'it's a shame they spend so much time by themselves.'

"That was nice of her." Chloe smiled and attempted to say nothing else. She had never been close to Jan Spears-Brady. In fact in high school the younger woman enjoyed nothing more than torturing Chloe. But after she married Shawn, and she realized Chloe wasn't going anywhere and that she and Shawn shared an uncommon bond. Jan began to warm up to her, baking cookies and offering to share meals. "What are you having?" She asked as if the menu would help her decide.

"Lasagna or meatloaf…I think." Shawn saw Chloe smile and he tossed a throw pillow at her. "Unless of course you have other plans?" He raised an eyebrow in her direction and smiled slyly at the thought of Chloe actually having a date. "You did seem to make a friend Wednesday…"

Chloe thought about smacking him, but decided against it. "Actually, your brother is having the sleep over for his birthday and Joy has been talking about nothing else for a week." If Shawn hadn't known better he would have thought Chloe was complaining. "I'm going in to the office to get some work done." She noticed him about to protest, she held up her hand. "My plan was to order some take-out from the Pub and sit on the floor of my plush corner office, listening to music at the loudest the stereo can get while I'm going over the marketing strategy that John needs revised before Monday."

"Well, who can compete with that?" Shawn smirked so glad that she dropped the previous conversation completely. "Jan's going to be so heartbroken that you're not coming over."

She pretended for a moment to look as if it were true, as if her absence from his house would matter. Then she giggled and picked up the file folder that he had brought over for her. "I think she'll forgive me just this once." Her blue eyes continued to read the page she had started as she entered the room. She would have frowned if Shawn hadn't been in the room with her. The folder contained each Basic Black executive's assessment of how the money for the next fiscal year should be spent, and she almost winced at the amount of money that Nicole has budgeted for the Black Label.

Off of the look on her face, Shawn leaned closer to her, trying to catch a glimpse of the file. "Bad news?"

"It's next year's budget." She replied keeping one eye trained on the piece of paper as she glanced sideways to her friend. "It seems there's going to be war in the boardroom when we review everything on the third." She pointed to the Black Label's budgetary allowance that came from Brady's memo.

"And Nicole starts out with napalm." He joked when his finger ran over the line from the soon-to-be Mrs. Black's.

She could almost hear Nicole and Brady now. "It didn't fly with Brady," she said almost as if she was talking to herself. "It won't fly with John." Chloe handed Shawn the folder and sat herself on the couch, almost wishing that she had fixed that drink.

"You sound sure." Shawn plopped down next to her and then straightened his belt. "Is there something you're not telling me?" He cocked an eyebrow as if she was about to reveal a dark and juicy secret.

She hit him with a pillow.

* * *

At ten thirty at night, Chloe found herself just where she said she would be, seated in the middle of her plush corner office, with a plastic take-out container from Alice's on one side and advertising information on the other. Her stereo blasted the sounds of an old mixed CD that she couldn't remember making, and she hummed along as she took another bite and thumbed through paperwork for the profile she had been missing.

"Skye said you were here."

Her head popped up at the sound of his voice, and she bit the inside of her lip when she realized that he had obviously been standing there for a while. "Really?" Chloe asked after a second, the surprise in her voice barely evident, masked carefully behind annoyance.

"Kate didn't want you to forget the fundraiser tomorrow night." He took three steps into the room, his eyes trained cautiously on her. "The location's been changed to the Penthouse Grille." He concentrated on smoothing his shirt and tried not to smile at the position she had arranged herself in. Chloe was curled on the floor, with her legs tucked underneath her in a pair of faded blue jeans with a hole in the right knee that definitely was not office casual and a plum lace baby-doll tank top that he would have sworn once belonged to his sister. She had a fork in one hand and a memo in the other, and he couldn't help flashing back to study sessions at the Penthouse that he had interrupted years ago.

"You couldn't have called?" Her voice was actually colder than she intended it to be. It was truly impassive compared to how she really felt about Brady standing in the middle of her office.

"You're cell is off."

Chloe set the fork back into the plastic container, and leveled her eyes on at him. "Pretty sure that was why voicemail was invented." She informed him as lightly as she dared. "And last time I checked there is a working phone right here in my office." Sunday's incident was still so fresh in her mind. She and Brady weren't supposed to be getting along. They hadn't in quite a while. "There was really no need for you to step foot from your inherited mansion."

He wished he had a smart-ass comment to counter hers. He wished he could find a way to cut her to the quick like she had done to him so many times. "I had some paperwork that I needed to review anyway." Brady told her lamely, trying to find a way to stop looking at her like they were teenagers again. They worked together. Six days a week, almost fifty-two weeks a year they were on call. Together. But as Chloe had pointed out time and time again, that was where whatever relationship they had ended. "And don't you have a multimillion dollar home of your very own?"

"Joy's at Zack's sleepover." She told him after a moment, wondering briefly why he had been standing in front of her with his eyes closed. "The house is too quiet." She told him honestly. "I had things I needed to get done." She tried to dismiss him, to ask why he had felt compelled to see her on a night like tonight, with Halloween just a few minutes away.

Brady sidestepped her unspoken question and frowned down at the paper in her hand. "Gotten your costume yet?" He asked after a moment.

"Get out of my office."

It wasn't the first time he had heard her mutter those words, or at least a similar phrase. Brady had to admit, the way she had said them buried a knife in his heart. "Chloe –"

"Just go." The significance of the path this conversation had taken wasn't lost on either of them. "Please?"

He glanced at his watch, a sad smile setting itself on his fine features. "Happy Halloween." He whispered gently, watching as she closed her eyes to the pain and memories.

When she reopened them, he was gone.

"Happy Halloween."

* * *

The car finally pulled into the driveway shortly after two, and Chloe pulled her briefcase out of the backseat before hitting the auto lock on the key panel. She entered through the front door, without thinking as to why, and for a second, she had the largest sense of déjà vu. The briefcase in her left hand was transformed into shopping bags, and she skipped into the living room without much reason.

She stopped a foot from the couch and set the briefcase down. Staring at it for a moment, Chloe shook head to will away the memory that Brady's visit to her office had provoked. She looked around the room glancing first at the side table and then the mantle. Pictures of her old life had been replaced with the new. Instead of the family portrait with Joy and Brady, Shawn and her sister now stared at her. And the framed novelty photo taken of Joy with she and Shawn from their trip to Disney had substituted the Aquarium frame of Brady, Joy and Belle from five years ago.

Chloe noted every change, remembering with vivid detail how she and Shawn had boxed all of the old up and hauled it away. She was still certain that it was in an attic somewhere, but she didn't know for sure.

As if by magic, Chloe's eyes darted to the one piece of history that she hadn't allowed Shawn to cart away. It was a candle, a reminder of one single night. It sat on the edge of the mantle, on the other side of a family portrait taken right after Joy was born, and Chloe's eyes watered just looking at it.

_The front door opened with a protested squeal, and she could hear light footsteps echo throughout the rest of the house. "Chloe?" Brady's voice was uncharacteristically whimsical. For a moment Chloe could actually sense that there was something wrong. "Are you home?" The footfalls grew louder, until the bedroom door slid open. "Oh__…__"_

_The room was bathed in soft candlelight, with everything from pillars to tea lights covering almost every spare surface. The sheets on the bed had been turned down; pillow's fluffed neatly. And there, amid scattered rose petals and white silk, was Chloe. _

"_You're late."_

_What once would have been described as divine beauty had been toned down in the three hours she had waited for him. Her soft chocolate hair no longer spiraled down her back, instead it was held in place with a simple butterfly clip. A sheer taupe silk robe had been pulled over the elegant cream-colored negligee that she had bought just for their night together, and her make-up was one coat of lip-gloss away from gone. The look on her face told him all he needed to know of what would have happened had he been home when he had promised. _

"_I know." Brady bent to taste her lips as he unbuttoned his shirt with one hand. "And I'm sorry." Another kiss and Chloe was well on her way to forgiving him. "I actually only came home to change."_

_Seven words stilled her faster than __**any **__cold shower ever would. "Change?" _

_He didn't look at her, he couldn't. "Nicole's having problems with a board proposal." He explained, trading the blue business shirt with a coffee stain for another. He didn't have time for this with Chloe tonight. He had promised Nicole he would be back to Titan by ten thirty. _

"_I'm sure she pays someone a whole lot of money to handle these things for her." She tightened the sash on the robe and finally stood. "Brady, this is the __**third**__ time this week." Chloe neglected to mention that it was only Wednesday. She had no doubt in her mind that something would come up the next day, and the next. It was always something with Nicole. She pulled the clip from her hair and dropped it onto her nightstand. "__**Third**__ week in a row." She reminded him instead._

"_I'm sorry Diva." Brady kissed her chastely on the lips, and buttoned the rest of his shirt. "But Nicole needs my help."_

_Chloe sighed and pushed away from him, moving methodically around the room to blow out the candles. She would have to call Hope before it got to be too late. Maybe she would be able to pick Joy up early. The house didn't seem as lonely when the child was there, even if she was asleep. "Nicole __**wants **__you." She barked back, still not looking at him. It was hard to believe that he was giving up a romantic childless evening to spend the night with Nicole locked in her office at Titan__. __Then again__…__ Chloe shook her head, hard and turning on the bedside lamp, she glared at him. "Brady please__…__" Her voice softened greatly, almost as if she were begging him for attention. "Don't __**I**__ deserve one night?"_

"_Don't use that against me, Chloe." Brady turned from her. "That's not fair." He slid back into his shoes. _

_She didn't know whether to yell at him or cry. "Damn right it isn't." Chloe finally snapped. "Just like __**this**__ isn't fair to me!" She threw a nice sized candle across the room without thinking, grateful that it only landed with a thud on the plush carpet. "But that just seems to be the way it is."_

_Brady swore. He knew Chloe well enough to know what was coming next. It was written all over her face. "You're being unreasonable." He argued, trying to deter her train of thought._

"_Really?" Chloe countered. Suddenly she was just tired of it all. The late nights at Titan, an office he didn't currently work in, spending all the time with Nicole. Chloe's patience with Brady was just stretched too thin. "You need to make a choice." She told him sadly, standing tall despite her warring emotions. "Right here, right now." With the back of her hand, she wiped away the tears starting to fall from her eyes. "Me__or Nicole?"_

_Silence screamed louder than any one word. _

_His mind was churning. Nicole couldn't run Titan by herself. With Victor dead, his ex wife was fighting battles on too many fronts. Brady owed it to Victor to help her keep the company afloat._

"…_I'm sorry__…__"_

_The tears ran freely, unchecked down Chloe's cheeks. "Not as sorry as I am." She sniffled, a heart wrenching sound that reverberated throughout Brady's head. She coughed again, and tried in vain to fight against the pain. "Good-bye Brady."_

_He was at her side in an instant, almost jumping over the bed, wiping away her tears tenderly and kissing her lips. Brady was so sweet and gentle with her that it broke Chloe's heart all over again. "I love you more than my own life, you know that__._

_Chloe nodded, still amazed that she was able to stave off the tears for so long. She steeled herself and backed away. Strength was a matter of resolve. She wouldn't be able to hold onto her determination if he continued to touch her. And Brady had made his choice. "Get out of my house."_

_His eyes widened, brimmed with tears and disbelief. "Don't do this Chloe." He begged, even as he threw on his jacket. "I can be home before midnight. We can talk – "_

"_**Go**__!" She finally found her voice in her throat. Their eyes met, and this time it was Chloe who looked away. "And don't come back. If you leave__…__" Her voice cracked at last, tears breaking through the fa__ç__ade to cascade down her cheeks. They stood there for an eternity, just staring at each other. "Don't come back." _

_At last she allowed herself to blink._

"_I love you, Chloe."_

_He was gone before she reopened her eyes. _

"_Oh God," she couldn't breathe, "Oh God." Her hand groped for the nightstand, knocking the cordless phone off its base and onto the carpet with her as her knees gave out. She closed her eyes again, praying that it had been a dream. That she would get another chance. _

_He was gone. _

_Brady was gone. _

_And he wasn't coming back. _

_Her eyes no longer even attempted to hold her tears at bay, and Chloe sobbed openly. She rocked back, leaning on the phone, turning it on accidentally with her ankle. The dial tone startled her, pulling her out of her trance as she picked up the object and just stared at it. "What did I do?"_

* * *

The clock on the dashboard read quarter after two in the morning, and Brady still hadn't made it home. He was parked outside the old Titan building, just staring out windshield at the high rise. Right before he was scheduled to return from his honeymoon, his office would move into the building in front of him. It was odd, but it was a change that he wasn't looking forward to. After all, his fiancée had made sure that he would get her old office. The only upside to moving out of the Basic Black building was now he and Chloe would finally be on the same floor.

Brady frowned. The words _Chloe_ and _floor_were definitely two words that he shouldn't try to associate together again. He closed his eyes to the thought of her curled on the carpet of her office, looking up at him with her cerulean eyes. They had been the eyes he had dreamed about, the eyes that had tormented him.

They were the eyes that drove him here in the first place.

Brady laughed at the irony of the situation as he sat there, staring at the high rise.

_The jeep circled the block for the third time, its driver incapable of steering it anywhere else. That would have required actual thought, and Brady was all out of brainpower at the moment. _

_It took all he had to breathe. _

_His mind just told him to keep driving. _

_He wanted to turn back. Brady wanted to pull back into the driveway and try the night all over again. He wouldn't leave this time. He wouldn't choose Nicole and a failing business over Chloe and their home a second time. He would do it right. _

_But as he put the jeep into park, he realized that he had driven himself to Titan Publishing. Brady knew that this time there was no going back. Chloe had already given up too much for him. He and Chloe were over. _

_And he was to blame. _

_He would be able to move on. It was what Brady Black did after all. If he could bounce back from Chloe's 'death' why couldn't he survive leaving her? It was Chloe he was concerned about now. _

_Because Chloe didn't just bounce back from anything. _

_So, as he got into the elevator, Brady made the one decision that even five years down the road would still be the smartest thing that he had ever done. Flipping his cell phone open, Brady scrolled through his phone book. After he found the right name, he put the phone to his ear._

_There were three rings before someone answered. _

_Three rings for him to dry his tears and clear his throat. _

"_Hey, it's Brady." His voice crackled harshly, and Brady swallowed. "I know its late man, but I need you to do me a favor." There was little conversation on the other end of the line and then Brady frowned. "I need you to go check on Chloe."_

_It only took a moment to piece it all together._

_And Shawn was out the door before he hung up his cell phone._

He put the car into drive and peeled away from the building. He had a full day in the morning. Sooner or later he would have to go home.

_Home_.

That was another word he would have to stop associating with Chloe.

* * *

Phone calls in the night were not entirely uncommon in the Brady household. Two in the morning, the phone went off, and suddenly Shawn was wide-awake, reaching for it. As he pulled his house phone to his ear, he did a mental check of where his jeans had wound up on the floor when he had gone to sleep. He knew he would be leaving the house. He looked to his hand when the ringing didn't stop and then snatched the offending cell off of the nightstand.

There were only two kinds of phone calls Shawn Douglas Brady received in the middle of the night.

Neither of them good.

"'Ello?" He asked, working through the haze enough to stand and trip over one of his shoes.

There was a sob. It was light, but he heard the choke after it. No one answered his greeting.

"Chloe?" He asked attentively, his jeans coming up over his hips and his hand diving into the pocket to find his car keys. "Chlo, baby you have to talk to me." Jan moved lightly on the bed, and Shawn kissed her cheek as he slid into his shoes. Sadly enough, his wife understood that when he ran off in the middle of the night he was running to the arms of the executive. "At least say 'hello.'"

She couldn't breathe. She didn't want to. From her seat in the middle of the downstairs living room, Chloe would have been content if God struck her dead. "Why did I do it Shawn?" She asked carefully, her voice hitching up between words. "What did I do?"

He didn't have an answer for her. In truth he never did. Ever since that first night of finding her he still couldn't understand everything that had happened in that house before Brady had called. "Well you know, mood swings and all. I think it was just the PMS talking."

But there was no laugh on the other end.

It didn't even sound like Chloe was breathing.

He was going through the motions again. As he pulled his shirt over his head, Shawn thought of every single little thing that he could to keep Chloe talking.

_The front door was slightly ajar, probably more of an oversight on Brady's part than anything else, and as Shawn trekked through the house he noticed the little affects that he would have to get Belle to help Chloe remove. Based on what Brady had told him, there was no coming back from this. A cry echoed from the right side of the house and immediately he knew he would find her where Brady had left her. _

"_Chloe?" He asked carefully, making sure she knew he was there long before he opened the bedroom door. It had been the first thing that his father had taught him when he decided to join the force. "It's Shawn."_

_His name came from behind the partially closed door, and Shawn took that as a good sign and pushed it the rest of the way open. _

_And stopped. _

_Chloe was in the center of the room, her robe wrinkled somewhere between half on and half off, and the rose petals that Shawn assumed were once scattered on the bed pooling haphazardly on the floor around her. The sheets themselves had been torn from the bed, the comforter somehow hanging half out of the bathroom. There were no pillows to speak of, and honestly at this point in time, they were the least of his problems. As Chloe looked down at her hands, Shawn knew that locating feather pillows were the last things he would do._

"_Why don't you hand me that?" He suggested, nodding to the shining object in Chloe's left hand. "And you and I can get you cleaned up and eat some mocha chip."_

"_I didn't mean for it to happen." Chloe snapped. Her hand moved, and it took Shawn all of the strength he possessed not to try to grab it. "I didn't mean for it to happen."_

_He wasn't sure which part of it she was talking about. Her hand turned, and he was fairly certain that her nightgown was unsalvageable now. Her hands were covered in red. It was as if the second that he allowed himself to focus; he couldn't see anything else. _

_Suddenly Shawn wished he had already taken his negotiator-training course. "I know you didn't." He answered carefully, dropping to his knees in front of her. "And it's going to be okay."_

_Another strand of red, and Shawn was just thankful that she had yet to turn her hand over._

"_Where's Joy?" He asked carefully, watching her eyes for recognition. _

_She just kept staring at the floor as she bit her lip. _

"_Where is your sister, Chloe?"_

_**That**__ got to her. _

_It took her a moment to remember past her argument with Brady. To remember something before the pain started. "Hope offered to take her__, __so I __…__"_

_Shawn blew a breath out of his mouth and bit his own lip. It was one less thing to worry about at the moment. Now if only he could get her to let go of the knife. "What happened Chloe?"_

"_I let him go__."__ Her eyes watered, just when she thought she was all cried out. "I told him to go__."_

_Using that as his opening, Shawn scooted closer and wrapped his arms around her. "You didn't force him to leave." He whispered carefully, removing the knife from her hands and sliding it under the bed. "You wanted him to stay with you. Brady made his choice." He hugged her and rocked her, whispering reassurances until she was at last asleep. _

_Cleaning her up was easy, once he realized she had passed out due to exhaustion and not his original thought. The cuts were deep but superficial, and he followed basic first aid to stop the bleeding before bringing soap, water and towels in to clean the rest of her. Once she was changed he remade the bed, tucking her in while he sorted out the rest of the room. _

Again the door was open when he arrived, and Shawn cursed himself for letting her go into the office alone. Although he didn't know just what he would find, he could bet that it wouldn't be good.

"Chloe?" He asked, feeling the familiar seep into him. "It's me."

He made it into the living room and almost shouted his thanks to every available higher power.

Chloe was on the floor, candle in one hand and the cordless phone in the other. Silent tears streamed down her face unchecked, and Chloe didn't even look up. "Where's Joy?"

A laugh finally came from her lips and Chloe dropped the candle. "Still with your mother."

He didn't hesitate as he took her in his arms and lifted her to the chaise lounge. "At least I don't have clean up after you." He whispered into her ear, feeling her body stifle a giggle. "I love you Chloe." He told her simply, curling her body into his.


	5. No Day But Today

Title: I Know How He Feels  
Category: TV Shows » Days Of Our Lives  
Author: And The Moment's Gone  
Language: English, Rating: Rated: T  
Chapter: 5, Words: 6,377

Warnings/Spoilers: AU after Chloe's return to Salem after faking her death.

Summary: _I know how he feels, how strong his touch can be, when he believes it's real. I've been there. And I know how he feels_

_Official Disclaimer_: All Days of Our Lives characters and plots belong to Corday and the NBC. I do not hold stock either the man or the company. Chloe Lane, Brady Black, and any other character featured are NOT mine. The title, summary, and lyrics come from the Reba McEntire song _I Know How He Feels _and I don't own that either.

* * *

_**No Day But Today**_

Walking into Chloe's home to see her wrapped around her happily married ex-boyfriend wasn't that big of a deal for Belle. She looked over at the pseudo-couple, curled around each other on the impossibly small chaise lounge, and smiled to herself. Given the date, it wasn't too hard to understand why it was that Shawn was in the house. Hadn't Chloe taken her out to a concert this time last year to get her mind off it all? As she coughed, Belle decided that next time she showed up when Chloe had obviously forgotten a meeting, she was bringing a camera.

Chloe shot straight up, her hair falling in waves back down onto Shawn's face. They looked like teenagers that had been caught by ones parents.

As her eyes focused, Chloe cursed. "Belle?" She asked carefully, rubbing her eyes and adjusting herself on Shawn's body. She didn't understand why, but she wasn't quite ready to give up the warmth. "What are you doing here?"

"The fundraiser?" She explained to her confused friend, as if that one sentence would make all the sense in the world. She dropped the garment bag onto the couch on the other side of the room and laughed when Shawn bolted to life.

It only served to confuse Chloe more than ever. "Morning." Shawn yawned, sitting up fully and shifting Chloe to her own chair. Belle wasn't too sure if she was jealous or not of how comfortable they were with each other.

All she managed to do was wave.

"That still doesn't explain what you're doing in my living room at…" She looked at the grandfather clock near the fireplace and groaned loudly when her tired eyes refused to read the dial. Giving up she picked her cell phone off the coffee table. "Belle it's eight-thirty."

The petite blonde smiled and tossed her head slightly. "Dad was worried that you were going to show up looking unkempt. We need to get your nails redone and I think your hair could use a trim." Absently she played with the bangles on her arm. "And have you thought of jewelry?"

Chloe ran a hand through her disheveled hair and glared at her friend. "I highly doubt that your father worries about my appearance." She almost barked, and then she stopped and took a deep breath, forcing herself to remember that it wasn't Belle's fault that she had worked late and come home to have a nervous breakdown with Shawn on the couch. "Please don't tell me that you wanted to go shopping?" She rubbed the scar just above her wrist bone and frowned when Belle giggled faintly. "I have accessories of my very own, you know." She said pointedly, stumbling a little on her way to the kitchen where her coffee pot awaited. As she poured herself a mug, Chloe thanked the makers of the auto timer. "Drawers full of them."

From his place on top of the counter, Shawn handed Chloe a slice of the orange he was inhaling. He rubbed his eyes and looked from woman to woman, knowing already who was going to win this argument. "Nothing I would actually refer to as 'jewelry' Chloe Lane Wesley." Belle allowed a smile to cross her face when she remembered that Isabella Tuscano's engagement ring was still somewhere in Chloe's possession. "And absolutely nothing I would allow you to wear with a _Bella Black_ original." She stuck her nose in the air as she perched herself on the butcher block, her name had been a brand for all of two years and she never got tired of hearing it.

Chloe remembered the ring as well, and she couldn't help but to imaging the look on Brady Black's fiancée's face if she showed up at the fundraiser with it on her finger. For kicks she might even include the matching band. "I still have plenty of necklaces and diamonds at my disposal, thank you." She rushed, taking her first sip of heaven. Absently she looked to Shawn for back up, but he just shook his head as he finished off the orange. Shawn didn't get between fashion and Belle. "And besides, what am I supposed to do with Joy while you and I go gallivanting around Salem Place?"

Belle looked almost shocked. "Isabella Black Kiriakis does not _**gallivant**_anywhere." She informed then in a mock haughty tone, as if she were correcting a child. "And I don't see why we can't just take her with us. She still needs to get a few things for her costume."

From his place on the counter, Shawn coughed. "After last night I wouldn't send her anywhere with the two of you." He laughed, knowing that the second he looked down, Chloe was going to throw something. The dishtowel hit him in the head and he sighed. "Let me pick her up from Mom's, Mimi's been complaining that she hasn't had enough Joy time. " When Belle frowned, he began to back track. "Just write down what it is she needs, and I'm sure that Mimi can find it."

That answer seemed to satisfy Belle, and she turned to Chloe. "There it's settled." She decided. "We shop this morning, manicures and pedicures and then I have to have you at The Grille at two for sound check." A groan from Chloe and Belle shook her head. "But you have to be back here no later than five so someone from The Shop can do your hair."

The Shop was the nickname that Phillip had come up with for the eight floors that made up Belle's studio. Brady was in charge of the Black Label Studio. Rex's two floors of the same building had been appropriately titled the Playhouse after an interesting photo shoot had gone awry, and the entire top floor of the Basic Black building where Chloe, John and Kate held their offices managed to hold the name Bull Pen. Besides, Belle's workshop was run very much like an auto shop turned sales floor would be run, with models everywhere and parts of outfits scattered every which way. The only person that could navigate the chaos was Belle.

"When do I get to be in charge of my own day?" Chloe asked the room.

Shawn couldn't help himself. "Well, after you get beautiful and you sing to a room full of strangers, you get to decide whether or not you'll be bringing Patrick back here to screw his brains out." He offered nowhere near helpfully.

Both women glared.

Shawn ran a hand through his hair and retied his shoes. "I see that decision has already been made." He hopped off the counter and moved around to hug Chloe from behind. "I hate to sleep and run, baby." He told her as he kissed the back of her head. "But if I'm going to suck up to the wife for leaving her and then pick up the Monster I have to get going."

Belle laughed as Chloe dramatically turned herself in his arms. "Will I see you later?" She pouted. When Shawn dipped her to kiss her lips, Chloe kicked him. "Get out of here." She laughed. "Apologize to Jan for me?"

His head shook as he looked back at her, just to make sure she really was all right. "Anything for you," He told her sincerely. He was out of the kitchen before anything else could be said.

"If I didn't know any better I would say that your _just friends _is working better than his marriage." Belle commented slowly, taking a sip of orange juice.

"Are you going to choose my outfit for the day or stand here and criticize my relationship with your ex?"

Belle knew a warning when she heard one. "I can't do both?" The look that crossed her face was sheer confusion as she rinsed the glass and dropped it into the dishwasher. Then she waddled out of the room and turned to ensure Chloe was following her.

* * *

By noon, Chloe had decided that the next time the words 'shopping' and 'trip' came out of Belle Kiriakis' mouth in succession, she would duct tape her to a chair. They had been out of the house before ten, pedicures at the Shop before the smaller woman demanded that Chloe's hair get a trim and the dark haired woman realized that her day really wasn't in her own hands. Manicures were next, and afterwards Belle treated them both to frozen yogurt from a vendor between the Basic Black building and where Belle had insisted Chloe leave her car.

Now they were browsing the jewelry stores in Salem Place, or more correctly Belle was browsing the windows and Chloe was just trying to keep up. For a pregnant woman, Belle hustled along quite well.

Chloe stiffened as Belle grasped her hand an almost yanked her across the sidewalk to glance in a window. "I do not need new jewelry." She protested, wishing that just for once her friend actually believed her. There was no doubt in her mind that she could have found something decent in one of the boxes packed away in her closet, behind the hangers of clothes that she had sworn to never wear again. If need be, Chloe was even willing to dip into the bottom drawer of her jewelry box, where all of the things Brady had given to her were kept; anything to get her off the street today. There was a pint of mocha chip and an empty house to clean waiting for her.

"What you _**need**_ is to shut up and let me shop." Belle snapped playfully, keeping one hand on her belly and the other firmly planted on Chloe's wrist. They had yet to pick anything out that morning.

There was a grumble as Chloe wished there was a nonviolent way to detach herself. "And I thought pregnant women were supposed to be un-energetic and lazy." She deadpanned quietly.

"I've moved past that." She pulled Chloe into the next jeweler and clicked her tongue once she was spotted by one of the sales associates. "Now I'm four months of pure energy ready and willing to charge a horrendous amount of money on my husband's credit cards." She smiled what her brother fondly referred to as her 'Tinkerbelle' smile and Chloe couldn't help but to laugh. "So are you going to help me, or is this going to get ugly?"

"Come on, Tink." The word was out of her mouth before she could think to recall it, and Belle stopped dead in her tracks as Chloe kept walking past her. She tenderly remembered when her best friend had begun to use her brother's nickname for her after high school. After the incident and Brady's decision the nickname disappeared and Chloe was back to calling her what everyone else had. Belle made a mental note that there was something going on with Chloe that definitely needed to be watched. "Belle?" Chloe's voice jarred her out of her reverie, and she snapped back into step.

Belle shook her head and pointed out the window. "I thought I saw a sale." She laughed, moving closer to the glass cases.

* * *

At exactly one forty-five, Chloe strolled out of the elevator and into the Penthouse Grille with Belle on her arm. Her hair was neatly pulled out of her eyes and secured with a clip and her other hand played with the hem of her shirt as she looked around to assess further damage to her nerves.

Thomas St. Claire had been one of the soundboard directors for the Black Label ever since the company had been created. He had seen it all and heard it all with the pair of Presidents and in Chloe's opinion any man that could handle watching a full on shouting match between Brady and Chloe at one in the morning while trying to produce a young upstarts album was a man that she needed to keep. It was a shame he was gay. He smiled in her direction as she stood at what was the reservation desk and he was about to call out to her when he heard her curse.

She had thought that Brady would be rehearsing later in the afternoon, to give her time to get her sound levels in order. She also thought that seeing him would only be hard once they were in costume. Apparently Chloe was wrong on both accounts. The second Chloe saw Brady, with his fiancée on his arm, she was almost certain that she wasn't going to make it through this. His sister gave her a push from behind, and Chloe almost tripped on her heels.

"My Lady!" Thomas bowed at the waist like a sixteenth century nobleman and took her hand to kiss the top. "What an honor for you to grace us with your presence this afternoon."

Chloe couldn't help the laugh. "Thank you, kind sir." She joked, pulling her hand back and then latching on to him for a hug. "Where's Skye?" She asked once Thomas wrapped his arm around her. Chloe was determined not to let Brady know that he got to her. Belle followed closely behind, attempting to locate her mother-in-law in the group of decorators.

"She's here somewhere. Running around here like a chicken with her head cut of trying to get your music ready." He scolded.

"And she's set to get a raise next month." Chloe shot back, throwing a smile around the room. Thomas's energy was just plain contagious. "Who's on the line-up?"

He pulled a list from his pocket and handed it over. "It's a toss-up which one of my two Divas will be going first." He told her, biting his lip in mock consternation. When she looked to see the other person qualified to be a Diva, Chloe had to resist the urge to prove how big of a diva she truly was. "I thought it best you two worked it out amongst yourselves." He whispered, smiling. "Last time I made the decision the outer room in Studio Three was as trashed as a Kiss hotel room."

There was a moment when Chloe knew she had to blush. "It was just a lamp." She said defensively. "And it wouldn't have broken if it would have hit him in the head where I had originally aimed."

Thomas laughed and handed Chloe a bottle of water. "The band took a ten minute break. Brady's been working with them all morning."

"Harassing them is more like it."

From across the room, Brady shrugged. "You do what you have to do to get the job done." He told her, moving closer. It didn't amaze Chloe that Nicole was one step behind him.

"You walk the fine line between getting the job done and totalitarian, Black." She shot back, taking a swig of her water and glancing down at the table where Thomas had set up shop. She thumbed through his binder and then bit her lip.

"I was merely preparing them for the beating you were going to put them through." He commented dryly, matching her tone almost perfectly.

Chloe cinched up the strap of her purse and frowned. "Go to Hell." She snapped, turning on the heel of her boot and striding across the room where a few of the musicians were lounging.

"You first." He shouted after her.

Thomas put a hand to his head and sighed. "You heard the man." He decided, realizing that with Belle there they were on a tight schedule. There was no doubt that Chloe would have to be out of there ridiculously early so she could go home and be primped. "Whenever you're ready," he motioned to the stage and smiled when Chloe dropped her water bottle and her purse on a random half table. "Which song did you want first?"

She stiffened as the drummer hoisted her onto the stage. "Everything Burns." She decided, looking around. "And I'd like the room cleared please?"

Brady shook his head. "Not gonna happen."

"Then I'm not singing." She shot back. Today was going to be a 'my way or no way' kind of day with her. Brady had acknowledged that and he shook his head again.

"You want to try again?" He asked her as he moved closer to the stage. "That's my house band you're playing with, Lane and you're in no position to be giving me ultimatums." The word struck a chord in both of them, but thankfully neither stance wavered. He crossed his arms in front of him and tried to prepare himself for the backlash he knew was coming.

Chloe only laughed. "Then I'll take Never Hold You Again." She turned to the band and watched for an objection. "Can I get it one octave lower and half a beat faster?" When the guitarist nodded, Chloe turned back to Brady, her face screaming 'don't screw with me.'

Brady stood in wonder as he listened to her sing. The song was one that he knew she wasn't going to sing that night. Truth be told, he was almost certain that Chloe would never willingly sing that song again. But she had pulled it out and gracefully swayed to the music. Brady growled as he shook his head. There truly was nothing more intoxicating than the woman on stage performing was.

Something bumped his arm, and Brady instinctively wrapped it around Nicole's slender waist, resting his head slightly on hers. The move seemed to go unnoticed by Chloe, who just patted her hip to the new beat and closed her eyes, her lips turning up slightly as the piano in the solo was replaced with a guitar and Steve, his bassist, took a second to tune.

He took Nicole's hand in his own, his nimble fingers playing with the golden ring on her finger slowly, methodically. He had done that to Chloe time and time again when they used to hold hand. Brady shook his head and ran a hand through his hair, instinctively letting go of Nicole. He could _not_ think about that right now. Not with his new fiancée at his side and Chloe on stage. He couldn't allow himself to go back down that path, not on Halloween, not a week before the anniversary of the date he left her. Brady put two fingers on his temples and turned from the stage. He couldn't picture her sobbing on the floor as he walked out of the door. He noticed his sister's frown and offered her a weak smile. Of all of the days, he couldn't do this today.

Chloe felt the air shift as the song ended. She opened her eyes to find Nicole glaring at her and Brady with his back turned, seeming to try to get over a migraine. She allowed her mind to entertain for a moment that he was mocking her, and that just spurred her on more. She sweetly called out the next song, another that she wasn't planning on performing that night and as the cool strains of Kelly Clarkson's _Breakaway_ filled the air, Chloe smiled bitterly. She wasn't going to let him get to her.

* * *

She made it home not one minute before Belle had deemed proper, emotionally exhausted and feeling like she had been beaten.

Shawn was in the kitchen, making sandwiches to tide everyone over until their respective dinners and she could hear her sister in the living room when she slammed the door harder than intended. Once she made it onto the couch, she actually took the time to look at what her sister was doing.

Humming gently to herself, Joy was staring in awe at the make-up she had pulled out of Chloe's drawers. Thankfully for Chloe the girl had yet to actually apply anything. "What do you think you're doing?" She asked carefully, scooting onto the floor next to her charge and inspecting the glitter that Joy was toying with. It hadn't come from Chloe's kit, so Mimi must have bought it for her during their outing.

"Just looking." Joy replied smartly, turning to examine Chloe's face. She knew how she looked to the younger girl. Reddened eyes and puffy cheeks, Chloe knew that she shouldn't have spent the ten minutes she had after dropping Belle off at home crying. She should have saved it until the last possible minute so she could make-up over it and no one would see.

"You want to wear my make-up tonight?" She asked softly.

Joy finally allowed a smile to grace her features. "Yes, please." She said expertly, knowing that Chloe was a softy when it came to her. "Could you make me up?"

Shawn walked into the living room five minutes later, a tray of turkey sandwiches in one hand and sodas in the other and paused. His smiled widened when he realized that this was the kind of family he had wanted. Chloe sat cross-legged on the floor in front of the coffee table, eye shadow in one hand and the brush in the other as she worked diligently on Joy's face. The younger Wesley sat atop the soft wood, a look of concentration mirroring her sister's perfectly, Chloe's from trying to blend the colors in and Joy desperate not to move. Neither noticed him, even when he set the tray down on the table next to him.

Regardless of birth, they were mother and daughter, and Shawn thanked God every day that he was lucky enough to be able to witness this. Then he cursed Brady Black for doing this to Chloe. She shouldn't have had to think about taking care of Joy and herself alone. There was no reason for her to have to pretend to be the hardened executive twenty-three hours a day to get over the pain. Her walls would come up the second that she realized anyone was watching her, and for that Shawn cursed his cousin again.

He coughed, and Chloe's head shot up, the softness in her eyes focusing harshly before she relaxed at the sight of him. "How was sound check?" He asked her quickly, popping the top off the only beer bottle and handing it to her when she sighed. She needed it more than he did apparently.

"Brady's an ass." She said decidedly, taking a healthy swig before shaking her head.

Shawn laughed and handed Joy a sandwich, watching the child inhale it before handing Chloe the mascara. She was scheduled to be over at Hope's before six so she and Zack could be taken to the Deveraux house together. Chloe took a final sip of the bottle and opened the mascara, holding it up to her sister's eyes and commanding the younger to blink.

"Are we elaborating?" Shawn asked as he took a bite of his own sandwich.

Chloe shook her head. "Not without more expletives." She explained, dropping the cylinder tube into the case and reaching for the lipstick. She applied it carefully, making Joy blot on a napkin before sliding on the holding coat of clear gloss and then turned to her food while the glass dried on Joy's lips. "Let's just say that if tonight goes like today, I'm going to drown my sorrows and most likely do something stupid."

"How stupid?" Shawn's eyes narrowed and his gaze fixed on her wrist.

"Sleeping with a man I had no desire to see socially stupid." She told him, pulling the sleeve of her shirt down to cover the faint marks that had never tanned. "I'll save the razor trip for next week." With a tired smile, she watched Shawn's jaw set.

There were certain things that not many people knew about, and certain things that Shawn and Chloe kept to themselves. "That's not funny." He told her gently, taking a sip of his soda and offering Chloe the one Joy had left untouched.

Chloe sighed. "Yes it is." She answered briefly. "It has to be or I'll start crying." She reminded him, picking up the body glue and the glitter from where Joy had left them on the table. She dabbed the glue on her fingers before brushing it across Joy's face, around the eyes and down one side of her cheek. Then she took the opened glitter container and, after wiping her hand of the glue, she managed to get the glitter to settle in the right spots. "Go wash your hands and get into the costume." She instructed. "Step into it from the bottom and one of us will zip you up." The little girl raced from the room, and up the stairs. "Do you realize how much time you really spend over here?" She asked after a moment.

There was a snort and Shawn held the bridge of his nose to try to alleviate the burn. "Excuse me?"

"Your wife must hate me." Chloe commented dryly, cleaning up the makeup. Shawn just held his breath and waited for what was really bothering Chloe to surface. "I mean you spend more time here than at home, you come over in the middle of the night anytime I have a bad dream, and I honestly think you've slept with me more times in the past two months than you have with her."

"I love you Chloe." He told her carefully, sitting in the vacant spot left by Joy. "Ever since that night I found you on the floor, I realized there are more important things in life than watching Jan spend all of her inheritance or listen to her complain about the fact that she still doesn't have a real job." He picked her hands up and looked her in the eyes. "Jan is my wife, and don't get me wrong I love her dearly, but you need a friend more than she needs a husband."

Chloe smiled and then when Shawn wiggled his eyebrows she laughed. "That is either the sweetest thing I've ever heard," Chloe watched the smug smile spread on Shawn's face. "Or you're planning on filing for divorce and you're trying to move in here."

Both laughed, and Shawn was the first to stand when Joy shouted for upstairs.

"Your costume is on the bed, and Belle's stylist is on her way. Is there anything else you need before Cinderella and I take off?" Shawn's voice echoed through her room before he even got to the door, and once he did, he almost wished that he could have talked Mimi and Patrick into letting him drive Chloe to the Grille.

"Courage," the younger woman said from her seat on the floor in front of the bed. "And a fast acting twenty-four hour bug."

"You're on your own with the flu. But I think I have some courage to spare." He pulled a Twinkie out of his pocket and handed it to her before he crouched in front of her. "You are one of the most successfully amazing women I have ever had the pleasure of meeting." He told her simply, not mixing words or hiding the admiration he held for her in his eyes. "You are going to go to this fundraiser tonight, and you are going to dazzle everyone. It doesn't matter what tonight _**was**_." With a kiss to the forehead, Shawn pulled himself to his feet. "I love you."

"Love you too, Deputy Douglas." Chloe pulled him into a hug and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "Thank you." She whispered into his ear, turning to smile brightly at her sister. "And I love you Monster." She dropped to the floor so she was more at Joy's level.

Joy didn't think twice about the custom made costume she was wearing as she grappled Chloe into a hug. She understood that Chloe was hurting, although her seven-year-old brain couldn't quite comprehend why. "I love you Mommy." She whispered into Chloe's ear. "Have fun at the grown-up party."

"Have fun trick-or-treating with Abby." Chloe almost commanded, knowing too well that before they even arrived at the Deveraux house, Joy would have forgotten Chloe's tears. "Bye Baby." As Shawn lifted Joy off of the floor, he shot her a look. "See you in a few."

They made it to the front door, and when Chloe shut it behind them, she turned and leaned herself against it. "Okay…courage." She sucked in a breath and ignored the Twinkie that was still in her hand. "And a shower." Forcing the date to the back of her mind, Chloe headed in the direction of her room once again.

There was a soft knock on the door less than half an hour later, and Chloe clad in a pair of sweat pants and one of Shawn's button down shirts padded down the hall to the foyer. She pulled the heavy oak open and smiled. "Hey Ana," the girl on the other side looked startled, but smiled all the same. "Come on in."

Chloe didn't offer the young hairstylist anything to eat, then again if she had, Ana wouldn't have accepted it. She had been coming over to the house and following Chloe around the country for two years now, and they had seemed to develop a pattern. "Mrs. Kiriakis left this in the workshop for you." Ana handed over a beautiful floor length cloak. Chloe fingered the fabric, loving the feel of the rich sanguine velvet. "She said you would want it." A box changed hands and Ana nodded. "And here's your mask."

"Thank you." Chloe didn't open the box. She wasn't even certain that she would be wearing the mask long. Taking a step back Chloe waved to the foyer. "All of my stuff is in the bathroom."

As they moved back to the bedroom, Ana tried her best to bring up conversation. Belle had warned her that this night wasn't the night to expect much from Chloe. "I saw your costume last night." She smiled. "Did you help draw it?"

"Your boss came up with it from scratch." They moved past the living room, and Chloe picked her heels off the coffee table. "All I did was the posing so she could readjust her model. I haven't even looked at it yet." Chloe admitted softly. She didn't want to say she was a little scared to. The way Belle had sounded over the phone before she had shown up with the gown made her think.

"How do you want your hair?"

"Belle's already decided and you know it." Chloe laughed, following the woman into the large bathroom and pulled her hair out of the clip she had it up in. "Just go with whatever it is she came up with and I'll not have to fight with her later."

As she sat herself down into the chair that she almost had to force Shawn to carry down from her office upstairs, Chloe pulled out the music editorials for the next edition of the Basic Black magazine that she had to revise and concentrated on that instead of whatever Ana was doing to her hair behind her.

Chloe had learned a long time ago how to sit still and tune everything out when she sitting in the hair and make-up chairs during her tour with Marin. Once or twice she would look up uninterested at the way the woman was blow drying her hair down straight before separating it, or pulling the front into a perfect classic Dutch crown braid and securing it before moving on to the curling iron.

She had just about forgotten the fact that she was sitting in the chair when the box that she had been told contained her mask suddenly appeared on the vanity. Ana plucked off the top, and with expert care she withdrew a handmade tiara that any royalty would have murdered for. Chloe's full attention was on the simple piece in Ana's hands as she laid it onto the perfect ring her hair had created. It wasn't very elaborate, made out six different sizes of silver wire embellished lightly with natural stone beads, hand dyed pearls and glass beads to create a lightweight masterpiece that made Chloe look and feel almost like a princess. She even laughed when she realized that the silver had been treated with a chemical to tarnish it. Truly Belle thought of everything.

"All done." Ana announced as she secured the crown with tiny bobby pins. She handed Chloe a mirror and lifted her from the chair to spin her around and show the back. "What do you think?"

"That there's a reason that Belle sends you with me to award shows." Chloe laughed when she laid the handheld mirror on the counter. "How much do I owe you for this?"

Ana took the checkbook out of Chloe's hand. "Already taken care of Ms. Lane." She smiled, trying not to tip off the woman in front of her who had footed the bill for the design. "I'm going to get out of here so you can get dressed." Everything fit easily back into her bag and she lifted it onto her shoulder with a smile. "Remember to use earth tones on your face, and you can only pull your hair up with a butterfly clip hair stick if you _**must**_. Happy Halloween."

She was fine until Ana whispered the last two words. "Have a good night." Chloe responded mechanically, smiling back the best she could until the stylist was out of the room. Ana had come over too many times not to know her way out. "Happy Halloween." She choked, allowing herself one final cry before wiping her face with a wet nap and forcing herself back into her bedroom to where Shawn had left the bag from Belle.

Chloe hung the bag on the back of the door, and unzipped it carefully. Chiffon peaked out from the opening, and Chloe smiled when she remembered Shawn's words.

With an expert hand, Chloe finished her mascara right as the doorbell rang, and she slid her shoes on to her feet before grabbing the dark sanguine cloak that Belle had sent over from the workshop. It slid over her shoulders easily and the clasp hooked at the neck to conceal everything below her chin.

With her back straight she moved through the house, picking her clutch off of the side table and checking it for her compact, lip-gloss and cell phone, before taking a step up to the door.

"You look amazing." The words were out of Patrick's mouth before he had time to think, and the way she smiled up at him was more than enough of a 'thank you' for the compliment.

Chloe rolled her eyes. "You can't even see what I'm wearing." She scolded lightly, trying to keep the smile expertly stamped on her face. Truth was she didn't rightly know what to do with the man in front of her. She was more or less in shock about the whole dating experience. What man in his right mind would want to date a single woman with a seven year old child that hadn't even tried to go out since she had broken up with the proclaimed love of her life five years prior?

He just smiled and took off his sunglasses. The tux had been Belle's idea. Such short notice she had sent him something off the rack at the Shop and loaned him one of her husband's watches. It wasn't a stretch of the imagination to guess what he was going as. "If it's half as beautiful as your smile," he started, watching her eyes widen and her smile set a little higher. "I can guarantee amazing."

"Thank you." Her voice was softer now, not too sure if she were deserving of a compliment such as that one.

A hand came out from behind his back and his smile just got bigger. "These are for you."

Chloe brought the flowers up to her nose and took a large sniff. "Orchids?" She asked to clarify that they were pure grown.

Rather sheepishly, Patrick allowed himself a short smile. "Belle told me you liked them."

Another deep breath, and suddenly the night seemed to get harder. "Remind me to murder Belle." Chloe asked semi-seriously.

"Another night." Patrick agreed, moving to take her hand. "Shall we?"

Another check to make sure she had everything and Chloe followed Patrick to the limo in the driveway, locking the front door behind her.


End file.
